Irish Sea Portal Pilot (ISPP)

The aim of The Pilot is to test the feasibility of a larger project (The Irish Sea Portal (ISP)) which will provide a platform that can meet the requirement for knowledge flow in order to generate growth in fisheries and aquaculture. The Pilot will facilitate the formation of one cluster in order to test the principles of the ISP. This cluster will be focused on a study of juvenile shellfish larvae and seabed settlement. It will explore the siting of potential shellfish seed collection sites and the feasibility of seed collector deployment within the study area. This cluster will broaden understanding of shellfish larvae movement within the Irish Sea and its surrounds followed by larval settlement patterns where they are termed ‘seed’. This is a resource shared across the Irish Sea that crosses regional and national boundaries and has a significant economic impact in part of an industry worth some 254m euros