– The OmegaPeixe project will be the first in Portugal to produce fish with optimized levels of omega-3.

– Omega-3s are a source of cardiovascular health and useful in combating depressive states: an ally in times of social confinement.

– Focus on national innovation and technology from companies and institutions in the sector to stimulate and affirm sustainable aquaculture “made in Portugal”.

The OmegaPeixe project will produce turbot and sea bass, two of the most important species in southern Europe, and will increase the levels of long-chain omega-3s (the most beneficial for health) in an optimized and environmentally sustainable way. This is the first time that companies have invested in the national production of fish enriched with omega-3s. The objective is threefold: to meet the high demand for foods rich in these nutrients, with proven benefits for human health, including strong anti-inflammatory action with the prevention of cardiovascular, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and depressive states; Respecting animal welfare and the environment while simultaneously encouraging sustainable aquaculture made in Portugal.

“Our goal is to provide consumers with a differentiated fish, with high nutritional value, particularly with a high content of long-chain omega-3s (EPA and DHA), produced sustainably using a careful selection of ingredients at an affordable price,” says Renata Serradeiro, CEO of Acuinova, the project leader and a European benchmark in the sector.

In addition to Acuinova, which will produce turbot, the consortium also includes ALGAplus, a European benchmark in integrated multitrophic aquaculture, which will be responsible for the production of organic sea bass; the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS) of the University of Porto (UP), a scientific coordinator with internationally recognized expertise in aquaculture; and the Collaborative Laboratory for the Blue Bioeconomy (CoLAB B2E), one of the 35 national collaborative laboratories created by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education and monitored by the National Innovation Agency (ANI). The consortium has the support of Riasearch and Sparos, companies specializing in R&D in aquaculture, for the execution of the project.

Science and innovation at the service of human and animal health

With vast experience in the area of ​​marine fish nutrition, always based on the promotion of animal welfare and the sustainability of aquaculture, and with the objective of food safety and fish quality, ICBAS is the scientific partner of OmegaPeixe.

ICBAS will be responsible for evaluating the impact of finishing diets, that is, those directed to the pre-harvest phase, on the nutritional profile of each species under study. “These diets will be optimized for each species, using mathematical models and the intelligent program FEEDNETICS, developed in Portugal in a previous R&D project by Sparos, to select the ingredients with the greatest functional potential and economic sustainability. In the end, specific feeding protocols will be proposed for turbot and sea bass,” explains researcher Luísa Valente.

The average recommendations for adults from entities such as the European Food Safety Authority include a minimum daily intake of 250 mg of EPA + DHA (long-chain omega-3s), which can be achieved by eating fish twice a week. Fish is the main and almost exclusive source of these nutrients in our diet. However, in recent decades, we have seen a significant reduction in the content of these nutrients in the fillets of several species produced in aquaculture.

“OmegaPeixe will optimize the production of two high-economic-value species produced in our country, in order to guarantee consumers levels of these omega-3s well above the minimums associated with benefits for human health, throughout the year,” adds Luísa Valente.

High-quality product at an affordable price

“One of the project’s objectives is to provide high-quality fish to consumers without significantly increasing the selling price,” clarifies Helena Abreu, founder and CEO of ALGAplus, a company that has just launched organic sea bass on the market.

The OmegaPeixe project will have a total investment of approximately €1 million, of which almost €666,000 will be supported by Portugal 2020 and the European Structural and Investment Funds of the European Union, through the Incentive System for Research and Technological Development. The work will take place over two and a half years.

The aquaculture of the future is done in Portugal

With the growing need for animal protein from consumers worldwide (in 2050, there will be 9.7 billion people) and thanks to the scarcity of wild fish populations, aquaculture already supplies half of the fish consumed worldwide.

“National and European aquaculture is an exemplary response in terms of food safety, quality, freshness, well-being…”

Animal welfare and legislation. It is worth noting that the use of hormones and antibiotics to promote animal growth has been prohibited in the EU for two decades and has never been a common practice in European aquaculture,” reinforces Elisabete Matos, Technical-Scientific Coordinator of CoLAB B2E.

For Elisabete Matos, “the future increasingly involves finding solutions adapted to the environment, the animals, and the demands and needs of the market: a cross-cutting sustainability,” she predicts.

Aquaculture is a “strategic area” of the Portuguese economy

“In economic terms, the blue sector has growth potential in which we should invest, as there are several areas in which it can be developed. Besides aquaculture, the valorization of marine resources through biotechnology (development of medicines of natural origin, new foods, etc.) are areas with colossal growth potential,” adds Elisabete Matos.

Currently, the ocean economy is growing at twice the speed of the national economy. According to the Satellite Account of the Sea, developed by the Secretariat of Maritime Policies and IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), between 2016 and 2018, the blue sector grew 18.5% in Gross Value Added (GVA) and 8.3% in employment. The national economy grew 9.6% in GVA and 3.4% in employment.

The fishing, aquaculture, processing, and marketing sector is responsible for 25.1% of this GVA and for generating more than 60,000 jobs. In 2018, it is estimated that the direct and indirect impact of the maritime economy on the national economy translated into 5.4% of GVA and 5.1% of Gross Domestic Product. All this economic impact is achieved with very low environmental impacts when compared to other economic activities.

For questions related to media, please contact:

Collaborative Laboratory for Blue Bioeconomy (CoLAB B2E)

Ana Moura
amoura@b2e.pt