AQUACULTURE RESEARCH STATION (EPPO): RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AT THE INDUSTRIAL SCALE

The Portuguese Institute for the Ocean and  Atmosphere (IPMA, I.P.) is a public research institute and act as a counselor to the national authorities on  the sea and atmosphere.  IPMA, I.P., possesses a strong cluster of competences for the ocean and marine resources related to research, carried out by different groups , particularly dedicated to aquaculture and fisheries.

The Aquaculture R esearch Station of Olhão (EPPO, figure 1 ) is part of the Division of Aquaculture and Upgrading (DivAV) and stands out for the unique experimental conditions on aquaculture at the national and international levels.  This marine core facility is equipped to carry out production studies at every scale from bench-top laboratory work to a much larger semi-industrial level. EPPO has an area of about 7ha with more than 200 tanks, including an hatchery fully equipped for research and experimental production with different rearing circuits (for broodstock, larvae , juvenile production and research with live animals) , a support building (with rooms for trophic chain production, daily routines and biological sampling) , several analytical laboratories  (biochemical, histological, molecular, and microbiological) , an unit for  seafood packing, an area for pre-fattening (for earthen ponds and sea cages production) and 17 earthen ponds. It holds breeders of several marine fish species (e.g. meagre, gilthead seabream, seabass, Senegalese sole and sardine among others), microalgae and invertebrates as well as the know-how on the production of these species.

Production of  new species, nutrition, welfare, environmentally friendly production systems and a ssessment of o nshore  and offshore and production systems for fish grow-out are some of research lines developed at EPPO (figure 2).

Acknowledgments: The research was funded by DIVERSIAQUA (Mar2020 16-02-01-FMP-0066), DIVERSIAQUA II (Mar2020-P02M01-0656P) , ALGARED+ (INTERREG V A (POCTEP), ID: 1398) and AQUATRANSFER (Cresc Algarve 2020 Refª 27506) projects.