Continued eutrophication and shifts in fishing strategies within the Baltic Sea have had considerable impacts on the Baltic seafood industry, mainly affecting coastal communities and rural areas. The Baltic MUPPETS project is at its core an investment in a blue bioeconomy that aims to deliver economically and environmentally viable businesses with a positive socio-economic impact. The project sets out to create a completely new value chain based on small mussels which will enable a new circular economy in the Baltic Sea region. Due to low salinity, Baltic Sea mussels are often smaller and therefore not always suitable for direct human consumption. In the western Baltic Sea, small mussels are considered a side-stream of market-size mussel production. Nevertheless, mussel meat contains the same amino acid composition as fish meal, and can be used as a sustainable raw material in animal feed. The objective will therefore be to valorize this unused resource through the cooperation of three demonstrators in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. The project will invest in mussel farms and innovative submerged farming techniques (to avoid damages from ice, reduce costs and increase public acceptance) to create high-value pet food products. BalticMUPPETS will also conduct market research to co-develop business cases for additional products from small mussels. Finally, the project will offer acceleration services to start-ups and SMEs to exploit new market entry points in regional value chains.
The following activities will be carried out within Baltic MUPPETs:
1) Advance and scale submerged mussel farming and harvesting techniques
2) Develop new market-ready technology for mussel farming in the Baltic
3) Develop planning tools/models for optimal sites for sustainable large-scale farms
4) Develop innovative sustainable market products from small Baltic mussels
5) Establish new diversified business models for farms
6) Establish and demonstrate a new process line for valorizing small mussels
7) Mobilize and accelerate start-up and SME innovation capacities through funding calls
8) Advance new regional value chains.
- Name of organisation
- SUBMARINER Network for Blue Growth EEIG
- Type of organisation
- Other
- Other type of organisation
- Non-for-Profit transnational network
- Type of action proposed
- Research and innovation
- The action contributes to the following objective or enabler
- Protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversityPrevent and eliminate pollution of our ocean, seas and watersMake the sustainable blue economy carbon-neutral and circularOcean and waters knowledge system
- List of Partners
1. Christian Albrecht University Kiel, DE
2. CRM Coastal Research and Management, DE
3. KIELER MEERESFSARM GMBH & CO KG, DE
4. Blue Research ApS, DK
5. WITTRUP Seafood A/S, DK
6. University of Tartu, EE
7. F6S Network Ireland Ltd, IE
8. Ecopelag AB, SE
9. Östersjöfabriken AB, SE
10. Västervik municipality, SE
11. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE
- Start date of the action
- End date of the action
- Budget allocated for the action
- 7500000
- Basin coverage
- Baltic/North Sea
- ah@submariner-network.eu
- Country
- DenmarkEstoniaGermanyIrelandSweden