Led by Swansea University and funded by the European Union under the INTERREG IVB North West Europe programme, the EnAlgae project unites experts and observers from seven EU member states to determine the potential benefits of algae as a future sustainable energy source.

AE2014 was organised by the European Aquaculture Society and the focus this year was on added value.

“Our partner from UGent, Dr Sofie Van Den Hende attended the event on our behalf,” said EnAlgae project coordinator Dr Shaun Richardson, based at the College of Science, Swansea University.

“Her talk was entitled ‘Adding value to Pike Perch culture wastewater via microalgal bacterial flocs.

“AE2014 in Spain was a very interesting event about adding value to aquaculture. And there was a lot of interest in microbial ecology, such as whether there are nitrite oxidizing bacteria present in MaB-flocs. People, especially from aquaculture companies, were also amazed by the large amount of pilot set-ups in the project EnAlgae.

“There was also a lot of interest in the integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems by the participants, such as the integration of fish and sea cucumber with seaweed; or fish and shellfish with seaweed.”

Anyone wishing to learn more about the EnAlgae project can visit www.enalgae.eu.