Contact

Jean-François Baroiller
Head of Unit
CIRAD
Montpellier
France
E-mail

Béatrice Chatain
Deputy Head of Unit
IFREMER
Montpellier
France

Integrated and Ecological Intensification for Sustainable Fish Farming

Joint Research Unit (UMR) - UMR INTREPID

The global situation is characterized by growing demand for products of aquatic origin, demand from society for quality products and ethical production, the need to limit disputes over areas and their use, and the necessity of limiting the impact of fish farming on wild populations and the environment. UMR INTREPID aims to develop and foster fish production processes capable of satisfying the food supply challenges of the future, in quantity and quality terms, while respecting the environment and human communities.

The new joint research unit associates CIRAD and IFREMER, with some 20 researchers in the Montpellier region, 14 of them full-time. They are based at four platforms supported by 17 technical, logistical and administrative staff members: two marine farming platforms in Palavas-les-Flots and Martinique, a freshwater farming platform in Montpellier and a genomics laboratory. The group's expertise covers the following fields: zootechnics, farming systems, complex systems, development dynamics, research-action in partnership, physiology, genomics, genetics and ethology.

Three lines of research

  • Innovation processes and systems in aquaculture
    Description of innovation processes and systems in aquaculture, support of the emergence of innovations and assessment of sustainability.
  • Domestication: making use of biodiversity through aquaculture
    Choice of worthwhile species, control of biological cycles and study of the genetic bases of adaptation to captivity.
  • Environment: reducing the impact of fish farming
    Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA), adaptation to using feeds based on ingredients of plant origin, adaptation to salinity and sterilization.