DTU Aqua primarily conducts its innovation activities and industrial collaboration in the fields of aquaculture and fisheries technology.
Aquaculture
DTU Aqua is working with the aquaculture sector on a range of innovative development projects. The objective is to support sustainable development of the aquaculture industry, which is one of the fastest growing commercial sectors at global level.
The collaboration principally takes the form of further development of recirculation technology, where the water from the aquaculture facility is purified and reused so as to minimize impact on the surrounding environment. The projects usually centre on rainbow trout - the classic species in Danish aquaculture - although DTU Aqua is also working to develop production concepts for other species of fish and new types of feed.
Production platforms in areas of open sea - in connection with offshore wind farms, for example - offer appreciable growth potential in the aquaculture of the future. DTU Aqua is involved in the development and establishment of a pilot facility for offshore aquaculture that can be submerged in the event of bad weather.
Contact: Head of Section Per Bovbjerg Pedersen, tel. +45 35 88 32 56, pbp@aqua.dtu.dk
Fisheries technologies
DTU Aqua is working with partners in the fishery and fishery equipment industries to develop selective, low-impact and efficient fishing methods that make it possible to target fishing operations at specific species and sizes. The objective is to reduce unintended bycatches of fish, marine mammals, and birds, and to decrease the impact on the marine environment while simultaneously maintaining fishery efficiency and competitiveness. Several of the fishery tools that DTU Aqua has helped develop have already been incorporated into Danish and international legislation so the fishery sector is required to use them or corresponding equipment.
DTU Aqua is also working to optimize energy consumption and thus reduce carbon emissions linked to fishery. For example, the institute is researching into how trawls can be designed so that they can be pulled through the water more easily. Results from trials indicate that fuel consumption during trawling can be cut by 30% if the water resistance of the trawl can be halved through the use of lighter materials or by changing its shape.
In addition, DTU Aqua is working with fishery professionals and the fishery industry to develop fishing strategies and catch processing methods that optimize the quality - and thus the value - of the catch.
Contact: Senior Researcher Ludvig Ahm Krag, tel. +45 35 88 32 06, lak@aqua.dtu.dk
Financing
This activities within innovation and industrial collaboration are typically carried out in projects supported by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and the Green Demonstration and Development Programme (GUDP).
Other types of industrial collaboration
DTU Aqua also works with the fishing industry to collect data about fish populations. Representatives of the institute sail on commercial vessels to register the catch, and the fishery industry has, for example, joined the work to develop a basis for camera monitoring of fishing operations.
A number of DTU Aqua’s research projects include fishery/researcher partnerships, where the professionals’ expertise regarding fishing areas and techniques is integrated with the researchers’ biological knowledge about the structure and dynamics of the fish stocks.