On December 9th 2021, NUI Galway presented the ShellAqua project at an online workshop organised by BIM for the rope mussel producers of Ireland. This webinar provided an overview of ongoing technical projects supported by BIM and support available for the industry for 2022 and beyond for the sector.
There were three technical talks covering:
- advances on biodegradable meshes used by the sector by Joan Mulloy of Blackshell Farm,
- the development of life cycle assessment models for rope mussel aquaculture by Ronan Cooney from MOREFISH & ShellAqua and,
- investigations into the potential for offshore mussel farming in Ireland by Damien Haberlin of MaRei.
There was also an address from Teresa Morrissey of IFA Aquaculture, who provided updates on various items of interest and relevance to the sector. Chair of IFA Aquaculture, Michael Mulloy, gave an overview and insights into the French mussel sector. A number of speakers from BIM gave updates on the National Strategic Plan for Aquaculture, a trade update and some insight from industry into plans for developing the French mussel sector.
There followed a lively round of questions and answers where Ronan outlined the current plan to expand the scope of the ShellAqua life cycle assessments to two additional sites and outlined the upcoming product environmental footprint methodology which may hold opportunities for the Irish sector.
