Services

About ULPGC: The Marine Science & Technology Park (PCTM) is a European Excellence Aquaculture Complex (RI). It includes all culture phases (reproduction, larvae, juvenile) for different marine species (fish and molluscs), tanks and cages, and recirculation systems. It is a singular European RI included in MERIL because of the Semi-intensive Experimental Production Plant (PPPA) and the Biofactory of Natural Marine Products (AFPP). The PCTM is supported by University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, through the Aquaculture Research Groupwhich has several dry labs (Biochemistry and Chromatography, Marine Genetics, Histology and Health, Quality, Bacteriology and Virology).

It is composed of eight specialized wet labs, three offered for Transnational Access: 1. Warm Water Species Selection Unit, 2. Marine Bio-Assays Station, 3. Feed Ingredients and Additives Testing Unit. In these three installations, biosensor technology, based on the use of the FishBIT datalogger developed in AQUAEXCEL2020 is also available for individual monitoring of physical activity and respiratory frequency in juveniles and adult seabream and seabass, depending on availability.

Feed Ingredients and Additives Testing Unit (FITU) offers two series of 15 digestibility tanks (0.2 and 0,5 m3), three wet labs with 170 tanks of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 and 1 m3, and two lines for commercial scale testing, provided with computer controlled automatic, auto-demand or manual feeding and waste feed collectors (feed intake control). Photoperiod control is also available in 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 m3 tanks.

FITU offers an ingredient processing laboratory, a feed production hall, two series of digestibility tanks, and three wet labs to test diets and ingredients for either larvae (including automated start feeding), juveniles or breeders of marine fish species, both commercial or new species for aquaculture. It also has access to a complete nutrition laboratory equipped where all lipid, protein, aminoacids, fatty acids, lipid classes, vitamins, pigments, toxins, dioxins, PCBs and certain minerals from ingredients, feeds, live preys, seaweeds, molluscs, fish, turtles and marine mammals are daily analysed.

Marine BioAssays Station (MBS) offers three independent RAS units, fully equipped to test up to three different pathogens at the same time in larvae, juveniles or breeders of marine fish. Each RAS unit includes 18 tanks of 0.5 m3, each equipped with automatic water renewal, oxygen, temperature, pH, and feeding system, all with control and monitoring at real time.

MBS offers three main RAS units completely equipped to challenge separately with up to three different pathogens at the same time, in all phases of fish life cycle including breeders, larvae and juveniles of marine fish species. In each RAS unit, 6 treatments in triplicate are available. The design of RAS units is versatile, which allows a great amount of testing conditions and assays in vivo with pathogens. It also has a support laboratory in situ, as well as access to the Fish Pathology lab.

Warm Water Species Selection Unit (WWSSU) offers 82 tanks of different volumes (0.5, 1 and 2 m3), all of them equipped with automatic control of feeders and photoperiod, and monitoring of water renewal, temperature and oxygen (environmental parameters). In addition, under caudal disruption and air supply fail, oxygen is injected automatically in main water line or tank. According to IoT approach (Internet of Things), the information of environmental parameters is available at the website, for any user level.

WWSSU allows genetic experiments - crossbreeding, inbreeding, epigenetic crosses - or selection programs for families of, at least, 48 half sibs or 96 full sibs, or more when mass spawning is used. Fish culture is possible from larvae until adults. This installation is complemented with different labs for molecular and quantitative genetics, morphology lab based on image processing for detecting deformities among physical features, and meat and fish quality analysis.

Bioresources available

• Fish: gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili), longfin yellowtail (Seriola rivoliana), golden grey mullet (Chelon auratus), thicklip grey mullet (Chelon labrosus) and meagre (Argyrosomus regius).

• Crustaceans: whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei)

• Molluscs: abalone (Haliotis tuberculata coccinea)

• Echinoderms: Holothuria spp.

• Macroalgae: Ulva spp. and Gracilaria spp.

Support offered

PCTM has a logistic organisation in terms of administration, technicians for automation and fish and molluscs rearing, postdoctoral and senior researchers in Genetics, Nutrition, Pathology, Stress, Fish and Meat quality, and new species. The trials would be developed under a scientific environment of quality and interaction, and participation in workshops or seminars during the visits.

Modality of access

The method used to declare access costs is unit cost. The unit of access is tank/week for the three installations. A typical access for user or user group to stay for 10 days corresponding to 139 units of access for WWSSU, 99 units of access for MBS and 144 units of access for FITU. The unit of access includes in addition to the use of tanks, preparatory training according to species, technique, culture system.

Expected output/deliverables for users: High quality data, interactions with local researchers (harmonization of procedures, standardization of traits), possible collaborative research.