BlueFish Project

Project Overview

The BlueFish Project (Interegg) is an Ireland Wales Territorial Co-operation project for the Irish and the Celtic Sea, focusing on Climate Change, cross border collaboration and community engagement. The overall objectives of BlueFish are to develop knowledge and understanding of selected marine resources by addressing knowledge gaps regarding the effects and potential vulnerability of commercial fish and shellfish from predicted climate change. The project intends to provide adaptation strategies for coastal communities by assessing risks and opportunities for commercial fish and shellfish under predicted climate change impacts to our stakeholder groups, SMEs, coastal communities and interested parties in both Ireland and Wales.

There are three key BlueFish work packages that BIM was involved in, and these are:

1 SHELLFISH SEED

Investigating the potential changes that climate alterations may have on shellfish (mussels) along the Irish and Celtic seas. To increase the understanding of mussel populations and mussel larvae settlement/ recruitment/ resilience in the context of climate change scenarios. 

2 Trophic Interactions

The objective of this work package is to achieve a better understanding of trophic interactions (nutrient flow between various organisms) within a case study area in Castletownbere and to documentation the possible changes that may occur under climate change scenarios (BIM, BU).

3 Ecosystem Health and Well-being.

BIM has been monitoring physicochemical parameters at oyster growing sites.  The samples for genetic analysis of pathogens have included collecting water, sediment, and oysters (Crassostrea gigas).

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements to BIM contributors on this project

Jeanne Gallagher, Roisin Donovan, Ben Dallaghan, Terence O’Carroll, Dave Millard, Nicolas Chopin, Gary McCoy, Myles Mulligan, Adam Andrews, Brian O’Loan, Lucy Watson and Joanne Gaffney.