Team

Instituto Português do Mar e Atmosfera (IPMA) has a Pilot Fish Farming Station in Olhão (EPPO), a unique and leading aquaculture infrastructure in the country, designed to carry out research, development and experimental demonstration on a pilot scale. IPMA is an institute of excellency in public research in Portugal dedicated to research in the areas of the sea and atmosphere. The unit occupies an area of about 7 ha of the Ria Formosa Natural Park in Marim, comprising a maternity area (with breeding stock of 9 species of marine fish adapted for captivity), a pre-fattening area and a fattening area in earth ponds, in a monoculture, polyculture or multitrophic system. It supports technological development, innovation, services and the dissemination of results, including the preservation, valorization and production of marine resources. The EPPO is dimensioned in order to carry out, on a pre-industrial scale, production trials of species with current or potential interest for national aquaculture. In these facilities, the main objective is research in the field of marine organisms aquaculture, with a special focus on the study of production systems/methods, reproduction, nutrition, ontogeny of larval development, physiology, pathology, animal welfare, with a strong focus on diversifying the species produced. This unit plays an important role in both professional and academic training, regularly welcoming students from national and international educational establishments as well as members of the productive sector. Research and activities developed at the EPPO are supported through projects within the scope of national and international funding programs. The scientific activity at the EPPO also excels in national and international collaborations with other research institutes and universities, thus promoting the exchange of knowledge, as well as the mobility of researchers.