Two shellfish projects will benefit among the awards made under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s 2021 call for research proposals.
Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue and Minster of State Martin Heydon jointly announced the awards today (Monday 6 December), with more than €20 million being awarded to 24 research projects across the agrifood, aquaculture and forestry sectors — some funded in conjunction with DAERA in Northern Ireland.
At the Marine Institute, a project led by Dave Clarke to study the increasing rusk of paralytic shellfish poisoning events in Ireland receives a total of €599,580.73.
In collaboration with UCD and GMIT, this project investigates the increasing abundance and distribution of paralytic shellfish toxins, a highly potent group of naturally occurring marine toxins which can occur in shellfish (mussels, oysters, clams, cockles) which, when present, can cause serious illness and fatalities to humans if consumed, posing a serious risk to food safety.
A comprehensive sampling and analytical programme targeting these toxins in the water, sediment and shellfish will be conducted in aquaculture production areas, to identify the causes, timing, environmental factors and mechanistic pathways of toxin occurrence.
It’s expected the results will allow for risk management strategies and predictive forecasting tools to be implemented as an early warning system for the aquaculture industry and regulatory competent authorities, thus providing increased assurances to consumer safety and supporting the integrity, quality and commercial reputation of Irish shellfish.
Elsewhere, Prof Sarah Culloty of University College Cork is collaborating with the Marine Institute on bridging research and practice to improve the future sustainability and growth of the Irish bivalve industry. This project receives a total of €599,444.92.
Shellfish have a significant socio-economic and ecological role to play in Irish marine coastal communities and environments. Mussels, oysters, and cockles contribute to at least 65% of marine aquaculture volume and play a substantial role in water quality improvement, sediment stabilisation, and biodiversity enhancement.
Disease and climate change represent a serious threat to the maintenance and sustainable growth of this sector.
This project will adopt an all-island grassroots approach to identify the key drivers contributing to and inhibiting growth in this sector currently and into the future. The socio-economic and ecosystem services provided by this industry will also be evaluated. Knowledge transfer will be a crucial output.
Mitigation strategies, guidelines and recommendations will be provided to stakeholder communities, including policy/regulatory end users, to reduce the impact of risks that the Irish shellfish sector faces currently and into the future.