The Centre for Innovation and Technology in Aquaculture (CITAQUA), next to ECOMARE, both located near Jardim Oudinot (Gafanha da Nazaré), is even closer to becoming a reality. The contract has been awarded to adapt the old bivalve purifier on the Docapesca site to the new functions of CITAQUA, the Aveiro hub of the Blue Hub initiative – Network of Infrastructures for the Blue Economy.
Completion of the work, awarded to RUCE – Construção e Engenharia Lda, is scheduled for the end of December 2025. It will cost 2.9 million euros and will be financed by the PRR (Component C10 – MAR) as part of the Blue Hub Network.
This infrastructure will provide, among other services, support for the production and valorization of micro and macroalgae, as well as bivalve molluscs (with an emphasis on cockles and clams), as well as services to confirm the geographical origin of fisheries and aquaculture products, contributing to the traceability of these products and their valorization, as well as helping the authorities to combat illegal, unregulated and undeclared fishing. It will also have a strong human resources training component in partnership with academia and the business fabric of the maritime economy sector.
CITAQUA will be ECOMARE’s third center, along with the Center for Extension and Research in Aquaculture and the Sea (CEPAM) and the Center for Research and Rehabilitation of Marine Animals (CPRAM), led by CESAM/DBIO researchers, Ricardo Calado and Catarina Eira.
(Image: computer simulation of the new building (center) next to ECOMARE (back and right))
News originally published in: UA Notícias on February 20, 2025.