CREATE has active international collaborations at both the level of the centre and through individual projects. The University of New Hampshire has been an active international collaborator within CREATE since its inception. Prof. Hunt Howell and Michael Chambers from the Open Ocean Aquaculture program have participated in project development and discussions at each of the annual CREATE days (2007, 2008 and 2009). In addition, CREATE PhD student Martin Føre completed a 3-month visit to UNH in 2008 to investigate the behaviour of Atlantic cod in sea-cages at different densities in collaboration with Prof Howell and Prof. Win Watson.
CREATE researchers Tim Dempster, Arne Fredheim, Østen Jensen and Heidi Moe have initiated a major international project through the European Union’s 7th Research Framework. The project, titled Prevent Escape: Assessing the causes and developing measures to prevent the escape of fish from sea-cage aquaculture, seeks to conduct and integrate biological and technological research on a pan-European scale to improve recommendations and guidelines for aquaculture technologies and operational strategies that reduce escape events. The project will focus on the prevention of escapes of all major species under production in sea-cages in Europe (salmonids, cod, sea bream, sea bass and meagre). 10 research partners from 6 countries (Norway, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Greece and Malta) will undertake the €3.9 million project from 2009-2012. The project will directly involve the industry participants within CREATE due to their technological expertise and direct links to the farming industry and results obtained will be integrated into future technological development and innovation of technologies to reduce escapes.
The Biofouling on Aquaculture Constructions project has established an active collaboration with Prof. Rocky DeNys and his ‘Biofouling in Aquaculture’ research group at James Cook University, Australia. The collaboration involves testing the performance of various nano-textured surfaces developed in Australia in inhibiting settlement of the most common biofouling organisms that grow on sea-cages in Norway. The aim of this collaborative research is to develop technologies to prohibit larval settlement and reduce the intensity of biofouling.
Published July 6, 2009
