The EU funded SmartAqua4FuturE (SAFE) project held its third annual consortium meeting in Szczecin (Northern Poland) in September 2024. Professor Jens-Arne Subke and Dr Steph Horn participated from the University of Stirling. The meeting was hosted by project partners from West Pomeranian University of Technology (ZUT). On the first day the partners discussed progress on each of the project tasks, which are organised into workpackages. The University of Stirling are leading Workpackage 5 which is focused on studying the sustainability, acceptability and governance aspects of the various circular bioeconomy solutions that are being trialled for European freshwater aquaculture. Within this workpackage, Jens is leading on measuring the greenhouse gas emissions from different aquaculture and waste utlisation processes, whilst Steph is working on sustainability assessment using Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies together with partners from the National University of Ireland Galway and the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).

On the second day, the group visited the Ińskie Centrum Rybactwa (ICR) carp farm which is one of the key research sites for the project. This has a wide range of ponds producing mainly carp, and a new aquaponics facility. Active research includes collection and utlisation of pond sediment, production of pondweed and watercress and the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions.

Steph was also able to take the opportunity to visit another major commercial producer to collect data for future Lifecycle Assessments. The farm included a multi-species hatchery for ongrowing and restocking and a complex of over 100 ha of production ponds.