Aquaculture

In 2020, aquaculture overtook fisheries as the world’s most significant supplier of seafood, and its contribution continues to grow, making aquaculture increasingly important for the human food supply.

The EU imports more than twice its own production of fish and shellfish, and the European Commission aims to reduce this heavy dependence on imports. At the same time, the Commission seeks to increase seafood consumption for health reasons and to lower the carbon footprint of our food.

Since fisheries are generally unable to provide more fish than they do today, aquaculture needs to grow. This growth must be based on sustainable methods and solutions that address environmental impact, carbon footprint, and animal welfare—the core focus of DTU Aqua’s aquaculture research.

The research area Marine Habitats does statistical and mechanistic modelling of exploited marine populations and holds long-term expertise in bridging data-limited and data-rich stock assessments.

Our work combines models, statistical data analysis, and field studies to address complex challenges within fisheries management and conservation. We integrate ecological processes such as species interactions, species-habitat associations, and environmental change into analyses and quantify uncertainty to ensure the robustness of our advice to authorities.

The research area has four sub-areas which you can read about below.

Multispecies Models

Multispecies models consider several species simultaneously, their interactions, and the food web, rather than assessing the status of a single species or stock in isolation. An example is models of predator–prey interactions. We continuously enhance the multispecies and food-web models by improving their applicability, transparency, and integration of biological drivers. This lays the groundwork for developing multispecies reference points which is used for XXXX.

Spatiotemporal models and tools

Spatiotemporal models address the movement of fish stocks in the sea, connectivity, and shifting distributions. This knowledge is used, among other things, in spatial management advice. The work also addresses challenges related to vulnerable and data-poor species and combining diverse spatial data sources, such as surveys, fisheries data, oceanographic information, and habitat maps.

Management Strategy Evaluations

The management of fisheries and marine ecosystems often consists of many different components, but does it work as intended? To answer this question, we develop and apply tailored Management Strategy Evaluations (MSEs) to explore trade-offs and uncertainties in harvest strategies, area closures, and ecosystem changes. This includes developing dynamic reference points that respond to productivity drivers, such as climate, habitat quality, population structure, and population connectivity.

Coastal Fish and Their Habitats

Coastal marine habitats are key nursery areas and feeding grounds for many fish. We study the environmental and ecological drivers shaping the dynamics of coastal ecosystems and their links to adjacent offshore waters. This includes examining how ecosystem processes should shape the way commercially exploited populations are understood and managed to ensure that the limited space and living resources are not overexploited. However, fish data from coastal areas are often scarce. To address this, we examine how data from trawl surveys, fisheries, citizen science, and visual technologies can be used to monitor fish species and their habitats. We also draw on historical datasets to tackle shifting baseline problems. 

The results from DTU Aqua's aquaculture research are used by authorities for regulatory and management purposes, as well as by the aquaculture industry, including raw material suppliers, feed manufacturers, and suppliers of equipment, components, and recirculation facilities.

Denmark holds a strong position in farming technology and fish feed, which DTU Aqua's research helps maintain and develop further. The institute is involved in innovation at farm level as well as at the technology and feed supplier level through many industrial collaboration projects. Several inventions, ideas, and innovative technologies have been developed and transferred to industry for immediate implementation.

The research activities form the basis of DTU Aqua’s scientific advice, primarily to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark and the Danish Ministry of Environment, as well as regional and municipal authorities and industry. This research-based advice is often implemented in national legislation.

External collaboration
The aquaculture research group has a long and well-established history of research within recirculation and fish nutrition grounded in multifaceted, well-suited facilities, hands-on experience, and a solid national and international cooperation with universities, research institutions and industry.

Technical insight and understanding of practical, applied aquaculture is a core competence of the group. Much research is conducted under commercial conditions, and the commitment towards applicability and user-orientation is central for the research within most areas. 

Internal collaboration
Internally, the aquaculture research area at mainly collaborates with the following research areas:

• Fish and Shell Fish Diseases