Meet the partners: Safiestela S.A

Safiestela S.A

How the work developed at Safiestela impacts the environment?

Safiestela, part of the SEA EIGHT group, is a Sole (Solea senegalensis) hatchery that prioritizes sustainable practices in aquaculture, committed to providing responsible seafood. Particularly, Safiestela focuses on producing the best quality fry to be sent to the other on-growing facilities of the group. The hatchery is a pioneer in local land-based Solea senegalensis reproduction, and the Research and Development team is focused on the further development and optimization of RAS technology and methods. The priority is designing RAS solutions that target the best husbandry practices for fish well-fare and sustainability.

What is Safiestela's primary responsibility in the project OPTIRAS?

As a partner in the OPTIRAS project, Safiestela has built two experimental RAS pilot systems, each consisting of sole cultivation tanks and water treatment technologies: mechanical and biological filters, circulating pumps, protein skimmer and degassing tower. In this system, promising selected water treatment methods will be tested under conditions that will reflect as close as possible an industrial setting. Finally, innovative sensor prototypes developed by INL will also be tested in the demo-scale RAS at Safiestela.

What does Safiestela expect to achieve within the deliverables of the project?

We expect the project's outcomes to allow us to improve our water treatment technologies to improve our water quality more efficiently. Also, that the consortium will develop novel sensors for a more specific, sensible, and real-time monitoring of water quality of key physico-chemical parameters. Furthermore, that it will provide feedback on the effect of novel RAS technologies that potentially influence fish health. Finally, the assessment of hygienic barrier measures and biofilter performance for biological water quality.

Diana Almeida, I+D Department, Safiestela, Sea Eight