Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Scientists have found that man-made structures in the North Sea could play a crucial role in holding coral populations together and increasing their resilience.

What do microplastic filters, fertilisers and fish feed have in common? They can all be produced using jellyfish! At least, that’s what one research team has set out to prove as they look into reducing the plastic waste in our oceans.

Researchers are developing an autonomous system to monitor coastal and deep waters for fish stock. Their technology could enhance marine environment protection.

In its first year of testing, the world’s most powerful floating tidal turbine has generated 3 GWh of electricity.

Satellite images of ancient irrigation channels in Spain’s Sierra Nevada National Park could help mitigate the impact of climate change in the region.

An EU initiative is ready to test the first of its two innovative turbine devices. This brings the project one step closer to commercialising the hydrokinetic turbines that will offer a reliable solution for generating zero-carbon energy from rivers and estuaries.

Coordinated development of electricity infrastructure connecting offshore wind farms to land will bring financial and environmental benefits.

An ocean energy technology project that will harness tidal power has successfully produced electricity during towing tests.

Shortly before his death, Stephen Hawking left us his final legacy – a theory developed with physicist Thomas Hertog that tackles the problem of multiple, infinite universes.

First direct dating of an early human tooth confirms the antiquity of Homo antecessor, western Europe’s oldest known human fossil species.

Researchers are examining the impact of climate change on aquaculture. This will help fish farmers decide what to grow and where.

Research underlines potential of working with educators and students to increase public understanding of solutions to a major global environmental problem: marine litter.

Researchers are assessing a new technology that harnesses the power of the ocean to generate clean and inexpensive electricity.

Scientists have been searching for over two decades to explain how the Arctic is contaminated with toxic mercury pollution. A new study sheds light on the likely process, while warning of its hazards to humans and the environment.

Research carried out on day-old mussel larvae explores the effect of a changing climate on shell development, with potential applications for aquaculture and biotechnology.

European aquaculture is a vital industry employing thousands of people and generating billions of euros in turnover. But there is scope for greater development.

The latest research*eu RESULTS PACK– a collection of articles on EU-funded projects dedicated to a specific field of scientific research – is now available in free, accessible PDF. This brochure provides a detailed snapshot at the EU’s wide array of research interests with regards to the Earth’s marine environments.

European aquaculture production provides direct employment to 80 000 people and has an estimated EUR 3 billion annual turnover. But parasites can cause severe disease outbreaks leading to high economic losses in finfish aquaculture.

Fish population dynamics models are essential tools used to estimate fishing impact and provide key indicators of exploitation. A EU-funded project is helping to provide a new generation of models harnessing the progress made in monitoring using in situ and satellite data.

The EU-funded FLOTEC project’s tidal turbine has now matched the performance of established offshore wind turbines, generating over 18MWh (megawatt-hour) within a continuous 24 hour testing period and heralding an age of more competitive tidal energy supply.

The Mediterranean has been described as ‘under siege’ because of the intense pressure it is under from a variety of human activities. But more information is needed to see what impact the activities are having on the ecosystem and its resources. An EU-funded project has published a report to help plug the information gap.

Identifying the environmental factors driving larval settlement is crucial to understanding the population dynamics of marine invertebrates. EU-funded research feeds into a new study that takes three environmental factors into consideration in an attempt to predict larval presence and intensity.

By providing a better understanding of the Arctic’s biogeochemical cycles of trace elements, the EU-funded ARCTIC GEOTRACES project is shedding more light on the Arctic Ocean’s resilience to global changes and so also pointing to its likely future.

Two successive years of mass coral bleaching have left 1 500 km of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef badly weakened. Scientists now fear the damage is irreparable.