Building resilience into Blue Growth in the Irish and Celtic Sea Fisheries and Aquaculture (BLUEFISH)

The BlueFish Project is an Ireland Wales Territorial Co-operation Operation for the Irish and Celtic Sea, focusing on cross border collaboration, climate change and community engagement.

BlueFish aims to develop knowledge and understanding of the marine resources of the Irish Sea and Celtic Sea by addressing knowledge gaps regarding the effects on and potential vulnerability of selected commercial fish and shellfish from predicted climate change.

BlueFish builds on the legacy, recommendations and consortium expertise resulting from the SUSFISH project, which focused on the biology of representative shellfish species in the Irish Sea. BlueFish applies this in a wider context, incorporating both finfish and shellfish species.

Specific BlueFish aims are to:

• Provide guidelines on climate change adaptation and economic sustainability;
• Map present and predicted future scenarios in order to provide adaptation guidelines for future management;
• Produce detailed high-resolution 3D particle track models;
• Develop predictions of present and future multispecies integrated fisheries activity;
• Assess parameters of areas for suitable site selection for aquaculture;
• Assess the impact of disease and invasive species on future commercial viability aquaculture spp;
• Assess commercial fisheries species ‘at risk’ to determine vulnerable capacities that need enhanced protection through an integrated maritime approach;
• Assess fish and shellfish health and feed data into predictive models of climate change effects and future management strategies;
• Raise awareness of climate change issues and potential adaptation strategies through conferences, workshops and outreach activities aimed at involving local organisations in cooperative action and sharing best practice among coastal communities.