Consortium: SINTEF Ocean (Norway, the Coordinator); CIIMAR, Portugal; CSIC, Spain; AWI, Germany; UB, Germany, Nofima AS,  Norway; Project s.a.s., Italy; Biokraft AS (External Contributor), Norway; Skretting (External Contributor), Norway.

Sidestream is an Era-NET in the Blue Bioeconomy are coordinated by Sintef Ocean from Norway and with 9 european partners: CIIMAR, Portugal; CSIC, Spain; AWI, Germany; Projecthub360, Italy; Nofima, Biokraft and Skretting from Norway).

To which extent is it possible to recycle nutrients from aquaculture and agriculture waste by secondary bio-production? Which organisms and approaches are best suited? Can these organisms serve as ingredients for feed stuff? How safe are feed ingredients produced on waste? What is the market potential and economic feasibility of feed ingredients produced following sustainable circular principles?

SIDESTREAM addresses these questions to push forward the frontier for production of high value compounds by utilization of low trophic marine invertebrates and bacteria, which will be reared on waste streams following circular principles. Several industries are in demand for high value compounds such as marine-originated lipids, proteins and pigments such as astaxanthin. Omega-3 long-chain (≥C20) polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3 LC-PUFA) are marine lipids that are abundant in fish oils and fish meals (“marine ingredients”). ω3 LC-PUFA in aquafeeds ensures both growth and health of farmed species and their nutritional value for consumers. Aquaculture is by far the largest consumer of marine ingredients thus requiring novel high nutritional quality ingredients to critically ensure sustainable expansion. Additionally, there is a trend towards natural bioactive compounds such as astaxanthin as a natural bioactive stimulant (nutraceutical), which adds value to the resulting feed.

SIDESTREAM partners have shown that polychaetes and crustaceans can produce ω3 LC-PUFA de novo. Such striking capacity will be exploited in SIDESTREAM. We will take side streams from aquaculture, agriculture and biogas sectors, and produce polychaetes and gammarids on the solid phase and bacterial astaxanthin on the liquid phase. Biomasses will be processed and tested as feed ingredients for fish and shrimp during all life stages. SIDESTREAM cutting-edge approach will enable value creation from resources hitherto considered as waste, allowing for innovation and sustainable use in aquaculture.

Scientific Publications

Gomes-Dos-Santos, A, Hagemann, A, Valente, L, Malzahn, AM, Monroig, Ó, Froufe, E, Castro, LC. 2021. Complete mitochondrial genome of the ragworm annelid Hediste diversicolor (of Müller, 1776) (Annelida: Nereididae). Mitochondrial DNA Part B 6: 2849-2851. https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2021.1970644

Monteiro, M, Costa, RS, Sousa, V, Marques, A, Sá, T, Thoresen, L, Aldaghi, SA, Costamagna, M, Perucca, M, Kousoulaki, K, Valente, LMP. 2024. Towards sustainable aquaculture: Assessing polychaete meal (Alitta virens) as an effective fishmeal alternative in
European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) diets. Aquaculture, 579, 740257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2023.740257

Monteiro M, Rimoldi S, Costa RS, Kousoulaki K, Hasan I, Valente LMP & Terova G. 2023. Polychaete (Alitta virens) meal inclusion as a dietary strategy for modulating gut microbiota of European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax). Frontiers in Immunology 14:1266947. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1266947