During the next three years the PRIMROSE project, will form a network of scientists and industry members to produce an inter-regional toxin and microbiological advisory and forecasting capability to the European aquaculture industry. "The project will produce applications based on reusing existing monitoring data, modelled coastal hydrodynamics, satellite and other novel aerial observations, meteorological, historical and recent trend data to predict and give early warning of toxic blooms and elevated microbiological events. This will allow fish and shellfish farmers to adapt their culture and harvesting practices in time, in order to reduce potential losses," explained project coordinator Joe Silke, from the Marine Institute.

The Marine Institute will implement the lead role of coordinating the project and ensure that all the work packages, actions, deliverables and results are achieved. Already, a strong partnership approach has been established during the project preparation. By consolidating and further developing the regional knowledge capital that exists, the consortium is confident of a successful outcome. Partners will participate in a suite of six work packages and will develop a sustainable product that will be largely automated to predict and produce regular published reports for the long term once the project is finished.

In recent years there has been much discussion of satellites being able to track surface algal blooms. Understanding biological phenomena in the ocean requires a complex approach, though there is some merit in using satellite derived chlorophyll images to delineate high biomass near surface algal blooms. Much cutting edge harmful algal bloom research work has focused on subsurface profiles, where certain species are present in thin layers of limited geographical extent often associated with strong density interfaces. Phytoplankton blooms, micro-algal blooms, toxic algae, red tides, or harmful algae, are all terms for naturally occurring phenomena. Clearly, in order for a toxic, harmful algal bloom, or a microbiological forecast to be realistic, physical factors including changes in water column structure and transport pathways are necessary.

"PRIMROSE is the next step towards providing an operational advisory service by integrating physical oceanographic drivers with a variety of biotoxin, phytoplankton count and microbiological data. A distributed advisory service and a network of thematic experts distributed across the participating countries will then network to provide regular advisory products and forecasts of impending toxic and harmful algal events" Joe Silke further said.

PRIMROSE brings together experts in the areas of Modelling, Earth Observation, Harmful Algal Bloom and Microbiological monitoring programmes and end users to assemble a number of key data sets and build upon and explore new forecasting options. The consortium includes three UK partners (Seafood Shetland, Scottish Association for Marine Science and Plymouth Marine Lab) two Irish partners (Marine Institute and Bantry Marine Research Station), one partner in France (IFREMER), three in Spain (AZTI, Instituto Oceanographico Espanol and AGAPA) and one in Portugal (Institute Technico Superior/University of Lisboa).

Role: Fish Hatchery Manager

Luke Wilson has a degree in Marine Science from NUI Galway and an MSc in Biodiversity and Conservation from Trinity College Dublin. He has a number of years’ experience in commercial aquaculture, having worked in barramundi farming in Western Australia and salmon farming in Ireland. He has extensive experience in fish health and the practical applications of cleanerfish, namely wrasse and lumpfish.

Jakobsen, J. & Smith, C., 2017. Farmed Salmon and Farmed Rainbow Trout - Excellent Sources of Vitamin D? Fisheries and Aquaculture Journal doi: 10.4172/2150-3508.1000204. 
Read the article.

Succurro, A., Moejes, F.W., and Ebenhöh, O., 2017. A diverse community to study communities: the perks of multidisciplinary approaches to investigate microbial consortia. Journal of Bacteriology 199:e00865-16 
Read the article.

Moejes, F.W., Matuszynska, A.B., Adhikari, K., et al., 2017. A systems-wide understanding of the photosynthetic acclimation in algae and higher plants - retrospection and perspectives. Journal of Experimental Botany. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erx137
Read the article.

Moejes, F.W., Popa, O., Succurro, A., Maguire, J., and Ebenhöh, O., 2016. Dynamics of the bacterial community associated with Phaeodactylum tricornutum cultures. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/077768
Read the article