BIDDEFORD — A new collaborative agreement between the University of New England’s School of Marine programs, Morocco’s National Agency for the Development of Aquaculture and the Maritime Fisheries Chamber of the Mediterranean is expected to boost opportunities for UNE students and faculty members to discover, explore and contribute to the development of aquaculture and marine sciences in Morocco.

In the 21st century, marine aquaculture or farmed seafood, is predicted to be a significant support for the world’s seafood production, while providing an array of new jobs, helping to rebuild protected species and habitats, and enhancing coastal resilience worldwide. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, aquaculture is rapidly becoming one of the most resourceful ways to produce protein while playing a crucial role in improving nutrition and food security internationally.

In 2018, aquaculture supplied more that 50 percent of all seafood produced for human consumption and that percentage is expected to rise as more investment in the industry grows.

The new agreement is a unique partnership that is going to benefit everyone involved, UNE officials say.

“This agreement opens significant doors to both UNE and Morocco to enhance collaboration, research, and encourage investment in aquaculture, a field that is critical to seafood in an age of dwindling fish resources in oceans,” said Dr. Anouar Majid, UNE’s Vice President for Global Affairs. “This collaboration will position our School of Marine Programs, which is already one of the best in the country, to be better and more competitive.”

Under terms of the agreement, UNE would engage in innovation, research, technological development, knowledge transfer, and training and technical advice to colleagues and investors in order to support Morocco’s goal of becoming a major aquaculture site.

Majid said that the agreement will have the added benefit of giving UNE students the opportunity of working in a different fisheries environment and, at the same time, give them a rare opportunity to explore the fishing situation of the southern shore of the Mediterranean.

“This agreement will allow our faculty to pursue cutting-edge research in partnership with the government of Morocco while giving our students unprecedented opportunities within a new marine environment,” said Charles Tilburg, director of UNE’s School of Marine Programs. “International cooperation is even more important in this time of ever more limited resources and climate change. I look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with both the National Agency for the Development of Aquaculture and the Maritime Fisheries Chamber of the Mediterranean for our students, our faculty and the School of Marine Programs.”

The agreement also adds to UNE’s growing list of aquaculture projects.

The university is partnering with the United States Naval Academy on a project to develop critical tools to allow the country’s macroalgae industry to grow into a leader in marine biomass production. And UNE researchers will use kelp farm designs in Saco Bay to test the capability of growing sea vegetables in more exposed, off-shore ocean areas to increase the range of deployment and ultimately increase biomass production for resources like biofuels or alternative feed stocks for livestock.

UNE scientists are also evaluating the health of the farmed blue mussel population in Casco Bay and assessing the food safety of kelp farmed in southern Maine.

Last fall, UNE  deepened its partnership with two Icelandic universities by signing an agreement with the University of Akureyri and Holar University College at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland. That agreement details how UNE’s new Professional Science master’s degree program in Ocean Food Systems will align and collaborate with the Icelandic universities’ master’s in sustainable production and use of marine bio-resources.

In 2018, UNE President James Herbert and TNC Global Lead for Aquaculture Robert Jones agreed upon a partnership for collaboration on aquaculture research projects around the world.

The university also now offers a Professional Science Master’s in Ocean Food Systems, a new program which begins this summer.

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 or by email at editor@journaltribune.com

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