Nueva Pescanova opens aquaculture R&D facility in Spain

Responsible Seafood Advocate

The company claims it will be the first to commercialize closed-loop octopus aquaculture

Nueva Pescanova
Nueva Pescanova’s private aquaculture research center aims to improve health, nutrition, welfare, sustainability and new species development.

The Nueva Pescanova Group on Tuesday opened Spain’s first private aquaculture research center in O Grove, Pontevedra, Spain. The company says the facility will help improve health, nutrition, welfare, sustainability and the development of new species for farming.

The 4,000-square-meter center – named the Pescanova Biomarine Centre, which cost €7.5 million to build – includes a solar photovoltaic park that will reduce carbon emissions. It is the new home for 40-plus researchers working on projects like octopus aquaculture.

The company claims it will commercialize the world’s first octopus, born in a closed reproduction cycle in an aquaculture environment, sometime in the summer of 2022.

The facility is also home to the Pescanova Biomarine Center Museum, open to the public to raise awareness about marine conservation and to teach the history of aquaculture, which traces back more than 5,000 years to ancient China.

Nueva Pescanova Group farms a number of seafood species, including turbot and Pacific white shrimp. It employs more than 10,000 people in 19 countries and its products are sold in 80 countries worldwide.

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