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C-Shrimp

Sustainable indoor shrimp production

A new cultivation concept for commercial aquaculture in Europe

In Europe, scaling up commercial aquaculture is hampered by high production costs and the pressure on local resources. In this project, an indoor cultivation concept for shrimp is developed that does not require water changes and produces virtually no waste. The new concept is based on improved clear water technology

In the last decade, the interest in aquaculture in Flanders has grown strongly among both companies and the government.  A problem that makes further scaling up to commercial sites more difficult is the high production cost and the increasing pressure on local resources (water, space and raw materials).

From this point of view, the partners in the C-Shrimp project aim to produce larger volumes of seafood on smaller surfaces at a competitive market price. Moreover, sustainable breeding principles are envisaged.

The general objective of this project is to develop an indoor breeding concept for shrimps in which water does not need to be changed and virtually no waste is produced. The new concept is based on improved clear water technology, enabling intensive shrimp farming.

At the same time, the footprint will also be reduced by recycling waste into a product that promotes the health of the shrimp.

Partners

  • Avecom
  • Imaqua
  • Trome

With the support of VLAIO and the European Union.

Objectives

C-shrimp will:

  • Build a new experimental facility that will serve as a starting platform to develop all instruments.
  • Add a module to grow microalgae that remove nitrate from the system.
  • Develop a new filtration system to remove significantly more solid sludge from the shrimp RAS system.
  • Develop a new fermentation process to convert shrimp waste into a feed material for shrimp farms.
  • Develop an adapted shrimp diet that has immunostimulating effects and contains less fish and soybean meal.

Funding

Blue Cluster’s C-Shrimp project was recognised as a cluster project within the Flemish bio-economy policy plan, which is financed with funds from the ‘Flemish Resilience’ recovery plan. Through these funds, the Flemish government gives an extra impetus by supporting cluster projects between the research world and various private sectors that fall within one or more of the topics defined in the bio-economy policy plan.