MicroPlankton Eurostars

The overall aim of the MicroPlankton Eurostars project is to develop a cryo-preserved live feed for marine fish larvae based on several species of microscopic marine zooplankton. This off-the-shelf product will transform current laborious feeding methods, boost productivity and enhance the quality of farmed marine fish from EU industry and beyond. We will develop and test at industrial scale our novel micro cryoplankton (MI-CRYOPLAN). This is a live feed for larvae of commercially important marine fish species such as sea bream and sea bass. Accessible from the crucial earliest stages of development, it will double growth rates, shorten the critical live-feed period (until weaning to dry diets) by 25-30%, lower the cumulative stress index score by 10-times, increase survival by 50%, decrease deformity by 50%, and eradicate common fish larval infections such as Vibrio. We will develop a range of product formulations, each consisting of a specific zooplanktonic marine species obtained from harvest sites in EU. Today´s early-stage live-feeds are expensive but essential niche products based on the sequential use of rotifers and Artemia through a very short but critical period of the fish life cycle. This results in a high willingness to pay and low-to-medium price sensitivity. We will initially target this market for MI-CRYOPLAN. Our product is highly attractive to users as it fulfils the market need for a ready-to-use, highly nutritious live-feed facilitating increased fish yield and quality. Its unlimited shelf life will transform end-users´ supply planning in the sector. The envisaged project is well aligned to the EUROSTARS programme, which is designed to support research intensive SMEs with early stage high risk R&D-focused projects with a large potential market and a short route to market (< two years) which is a good characterisation of this project. The consortium brings together two R&D-intensive SMEs Planktonic AS (NO) and Sonrionansa S.L. (ES).