Effects of combining the culturing of seaweed and mussels 

To contribute to the sustainable food transition, make efficient use of the Dutch North Sea and enhance biodiversity there is growing attention for stimulating the aquaculture sector in the Netherlands. As part of the CircAqua project we focus on offshore low trophic aquaculture, and additionally look into the possibility of combining multiple species at the cultivation site, in our case; seaweed and mussels. Culturing seaweed and mussels together might have practical benefits (logistics, space efficient etc.), but are there also biological benefits? Do the species have an effect on each other when grown in the same area? Are these effects positive or negative? These are questions that I try to answer in my research. As there are a lot of potential ways in which the species might interact with each other there are a large number of potential research topics. These can either be studied with experimental set-ups, but can also be more literature based. A few examples of potential topics related to this research are; nutrient kinetics of seaweed, erosion of seaweed and its potential contribution to the diet of mussels, particle filtration of mussels, but also the set-up of a cultivation site in which both species are grown. What is the ideal set-up of such a site, taking both logistics, hydrodynamics and biological interactions into account? Ways to study this will mostly be via experimental set-ups, biochemical analysis and data analysis.

Requirements

The location of the work will be at NIOZ in Yerseke. The internship has got a minimum duration of four months.

Contact 

If you are interested in this research and would like to apply for an internship or thesis position, you can contact me at; femke.van.nimwegen@nioz.nl. Do not hesitate to contact me with questions or new ideas!