Consortium site visit to Mattinata, exploring the fish farms while checking project progress

The 12 project partners of Fish RISE met In May 2023 in Mattinata, North of Apulia Region, where the fish farms of the project are located. In the impressive framework of the high cliffs of the Gargano peninsula reflected on the clear water, the project team visited the aquaculture tanks dedicated to the project with a boat trip. 

The partners had the chance to approach the tanks closely and see how fishes, doradas and sea basses, are fed and captured. The tanks host different fish populations, from fries to adult fishes which are ready to be captured. 

The fishes are fed with specific feeds on the basis of their age and size. The feeds are shot from the boat straight into the tanks. 

On the capture phase, the boat approaches the tank and pulls up the nets which lay on the bottom of the cage from each side of the circle, so that the net is conveyed centrally, where the hook secured on the boat is placed, and the fishes are collected on one side of the net, close to the boat. In this way, the fishes can be captured from the boat through smaller fishing nets and collected in boxes full of ice and cold water, ensuring a rapid death, respectful of the farmed fishes and of best practices of offshore aquaculture management. 

During the site visit, the partners had the opportunity to meet and check the project progress, setting the upcoming activities. Among those, the realization of a new offshore cage which will be splashed down over the summer. The cage will be equipped with an anchorage system at the seabed but it could be controlled remotely, in order to make the cage move within the concession areas. The cage self-moving system will allow intercepting and exploiting natural nutrition sources brought by the currents. To improve the sustainability of the designed solution, the project will study the exploitation of self-moving mechanisms through renewable energy sources, such as natural ocean currents.