HatcheryMatch
HatcheryMatch is a two-year Science and Technology Cooperation Sino-Malta Fund Project between Maltese partners AquaBioTech Group and The Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition at the L-Università ta’ Malta and Chinese partners Fishery Machinery and Instrument Research Institute and Qingdao Blue Granary Ocean Fishery Development Co., Ltd., under the thematic priority Maritime & Aquaculture. Malta and China have a history of collaborative research going back to 2002 and in 2018 Malta and China signed the Belt and Road Initiative agreement to further support collaborative trading, cultural and research activities between the two countries.
The HatcheryMatch project aims to develop four new automation technologies which will improve water quality, embryonic categorization, and feeding and in turn reduce stress and losses during the hatchery phase of fish lifecycles. Prototypes for live feed systems, ultrasound disinfection, bottom cleaning devices and a digital, embryonic image analyzer will be created. A pilot recirculating hatchery will be developed integrating these new technologies to reduce stress on marine stocks, lower labor dependence and increase seeding rate.
These innovations will help to further progress aquaculture in both China and in Malta and promote research collaboration between researchers in the two countries.
Funding Agencies
Project HatcheryMatch funded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology through the Sino-Malta Fund 2020 (Science and Technology Cooperation). Grant agreement number: SINO-MALTA-2020-14
This project was financially supported by Science and Technology Cooperation – Sino-Malta Fund 2021: An Automated Marine Fish Hatchery with Innovated Water Recirculation Technologies (HatcheryMatch, Grant No. 2021YFE0108700, Ministry of Science and Technology, China.