LaMuOpt – Holistic use of laminaria and mussel by-products for optimization of cycle-based fish farming and products for human consumption

Project description:

Commodities such as fish, seafood and algae have long been cultivated for human consumption in aquaculture systems. They are used as food, dietary supplements, in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and medicine. However, the farmed animals and plants are often only partially used. The LaMuOpt project aims at a holistic utilization of mussels and algae in order to make farms more ecological and economical.
When mussels are cultivated on a mussel farm, undersized mussels, which are therefore too small for consumption, are not used but returned to the sea. In the production of algae extracts, a large part of the algae, the algae pomace, is not used. These previously unused by-products account for up to 15% of the total mass produced. In this context, both algae pomace and mussel meal offer great potential in land-based recirculation systems as fish feed components. In addition, innovative ingredients for human consumption will be developed from these by-products during the course of the project.
Both land-based recirculating systems, coastal integrated multitrophic cultures, and consumers of algae, fish, and shellfish products will benefit from the results of this project.
A more detailed description of LaMuOpt, as well as the list of project partners, can be found at https://blaue-biooekonomie.de/en.

Our tasks:

• Provision and optimization of seaweed pomace
• Public relations

Project staff:

• Dipl.-Ing. Susanne Woldmann
• Dipl.-Biol. Verena Sandow

Funding by: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the innovation space “Bioeconomy at Marine Sites”.

Period: April 2020 to March 2022

Project partner:

• Christian Albrechts University of Kiel (CAU)
• Fraunhofer Institute for Marine Biotechnology and Cell Culture Technology
• Society for Marine Aquaculture (Gesellschaft für Marine Aquakultur, GMA) mbH