The future of farming?

The joint industry/academia project, called Lobster Grower, aims to develop a new approach to sea-based rearing systems for the European lobster. It is a 15 month consortium-driven project led by the National Lobster Hatchery, which aims to develop the technology required to grow lobsters at sea in containers. This will help the partners to assess the potential for aquaculture of the species, which could have great long term benefits to coastal communities around the UK.

Support from the Agri-tech catalyst has been secured for a project addressing fundamental food security challenges. It will do this by investigating novel ways to expand the aquaculture industry; to include a species not currently fully exploited, the European lobster. This species commands the highest value (by volume) of any major species landed in the UK and suffers from a demand deficit and supply being limited. 

Sea-based culture, in containers (SBCC) exhibits the potential for a low carbon form of rearing with no additional feed costs. With this in mind the project will design and develop a SBCC system, specifically designed for nursery and on-growing, that could be used to rear a smaller product to a marketable size. The project will set up a marine licence, essential for establishing a pilot scale site, so that future work can develop the essential tools and techniques required in order to pioneer a new entrant for aquaculture.

The consortium will be led by the National Lobster Hatchery, partnering up with The University of Exeter (UoE), Falmouth University (FAL), The Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Fusion Marine and Westountry Mussels of Fowey. This partnership of three SME’s two Higher Education Institutes and a Government Agency will supply the academic, technical and practical skills required to develop the appropriate technology. The Agri-tech catalyst early stage awards focus on supporting innovation within business to stimulate innovation – the successful exploitation of new ideas and drivers of economic growth.

Carly Daniels, Head of Research and Development for The National Lobster Hatchery says: “This grant presents an exciting opportunity to do something cutting edge and innovative that will have a notable impact on the development of a new species for aquaculture. In the long term it will also support the overall sustainability of fisheries by relieving the ever growing pressure on natural stocks. I am very much looking forward to working with the consortium partners on this exciting 15 month project and assessing its impact and results.”