INNOVMAR– Innovation and Sustainability in the Management and Exploitation of Marine Resources aims to develop and consolidate the main research lines of CIIMAR through the implementation of 3 projects: INSEAFOOD, NOVELMAR and ECOSERVICES. INNOVMAR will unravel novel marine products with biotechnological applications; promote innovation and valorization of seafood products, in especial new aquaculture species and assess the environmental quality, vulnerability and risks for the sustainable management of NW coast natural resources and ecosystem services.

INSEAFOOD – Innovation and valorization of seafood products: meeting local challenges and opportunities – aims to enhance CIIMAR scientific competences in the area of Aquaculture and Seafood Quality that are relevant for the implementation of the North Portugal Smart Specialization Strategy. Research effort will be focused on economically important and well established shellfish (Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas) and finfish species (European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax) that play a major role in the Portuguese aquaculture sector. The project will also monitor marine algae and natural populations of sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus). The production and promotion of innovative seafood products of high value is expected, such as high quality sea urchin gonads or added nutritional value fish, in order to better exploit Portuguese marine resources and boost the economic and social sectors.

NOVELMAR – Novel marine products with biotechnological applications – aims to strengthen and consolidate CIIMAR know-how and competence in the area of marine biotechnology in special on the use of marine organisms (e.g. cyanobacteria, bacteria, fungi and other organisms) bioactive products that may have pharmacological, nutraceutical, cosmeceutical, antifouling and other industrial applications. The main innovation this research line will be the use of a double approach – a genomic and a bioassay-guided approach, to study a diversity of industrial applications using a biorefinery pipeline concept, aiming to produce zero residues. We will apply a methodology that will involve several levels of biological organization from the DNA (sequencing and survey of gene clusters that produce some of the compounds and further heterologous expression) to the organisms.

ECOSERVICES – Assessing the environmental quality, vulnerability and risks for the sustainable management of the NW coast natural resources and ecosystem services in a changing world, is aligned CIIMAR’s research line: Global Changes and Ecosystem Services. The central goal of ECOSERVICES is to strengthen and consolidate CIIMAR expertise and competence to assess environmental quality, vulnerability and risks providing knowledge, technology and solutions for the sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystem services. One of the main innovations of ECOSERVICES is the assessment of the effects, pressures and risks of a wide range of abiotic and biotic factors (exotic invasive species, pathogens, chemical contamination, physical and other alterations due to global climate changes) acting together. This will be achieved through a multidisciplinary approach including endpoints at different levels of biological organization (from molecular to the ecosystem level), physical, chemical and other system parameters, supported and integrated through robust integration modelling with distinct components.

Project Sheet here