RESEARCH LINES
Research Line 1
Removing and monitoring chemical and plastic contamination: towards zero pollution NW Portuguese waters
RL1 will tackle pollution in the NW Portuguese coast taking in consideration that our ocean and freshwater pollution is caused by three major sources: eutrophication (excessive enrichment of water by nutrients); discharge, loss and leakage of contaminants (either persistent pollutants or emerging ones) originating not only from land-based sources, but also from sea-based activities; and marine litter found on beaches and coastlines, on the sea surface as well as on the seabed. An integrated strategy extending from estuarine to marine ecosystems will be adopted. RL1 will bring solutions and information for pollution clean-up, including testing the efficiency of pollution cleaning, and monitoring approaches to follow-up recovery of polluted ecosystems. Main aims are to contribute to zero plastic litter, halted eutrophication and zero spills, enhance remediation and recovering of impacted ecosystems, as well as to evaluate their good environmental status.
Research Line 2
Regeneration of degraded habitats
RL2 will address the issue of aquatic habitat loss and degradation, using a holistic approach with three specific objectives – 1) improving our scientific knowledge on aquatic species, 2) assessing the conditions and dynamics of aquatic habitats, and 3) providing solutions for habitat restoration and regeneration – translated into 3 actions: Novel approaches to aquatic species’ assessments, which focusses on the application of Genetics and Genomics tools to characterize marine species, biomes and habitats; Assessing conditions and dynamics of aquatic habitats, in which the state and dynamics of ocean, estuarine and river habitats and ecosystems shall be addressed; and Solutions for habitat restoration and regeneration, which aims to propose science-based solutions for sustainable management and policy measures. This shall be achieved using state-of-the-art methodologies, like the most advanced next generation sequencing (NGS) tools for genomics and transcriptomics and high-resolution multi-spectral remote sensing, to assess conditions and dynamics of aquatic organisms and habitats, and ecological models to forecast ecosystem responses.
Research Line 3
Decarbonising our waters and ocean
RL3 will address activities to accelerate the decarbonisation of existing sectors and developing carbon-neutral new activities, including 1) carbon-neutral aquaculture production by the development of novel protein sources from agro-industrial and algae by-products/wastes not used for human consumption; 2) innovative aquaculture practice i.e. ecosystem-based aquaculture systems to produce low-trophic species and algae; 3) Incentivize switching from high-carbon land-based protein sources to low-carbon ocean-based protein sources such as fish, mollusks, and seaweed; 4) carbon fixation promoting the seaweed reforestation and seaweed aquaculture; and 5) promotion the energy transition to renewable, low impact coastal energy in aquaculture. The research will be conducted by a consortium gathering Portuguese experts in sustainable aquaculture, feed, and food safety, seaweeds, and renewable energy. The project will make use of the complementary expertise and skills of the partnering research groups to promote a carbon-neutral circular blue economy, accelerating the decarbonisation of food supply chains and developing carbon-neutral seafood production.