13 Ocean

Project description

13 Ocean is an urban perma-aquacultural farm project, responding to the challenges of climate challenge and promoting the resilience of marine ecosystems by replacing the fish feed used in aquaculture with a sustainable insect feed. Its ambition is to be the operational proof-of-concept of a new type of inclusive and sustainable parma-aquacultural urban farm for the adaptation of cities to global changes.

Developed in 2018 in response to a Call for Expressions of Interest from the Grand Port Maritime of Marseille, it became a French component and demonstrator of the “Living Lab, Circular Economy for Food: Partnership for Sustainable Costal Cities in the Western Mediterranean” project developed during of the Summit of the Two Shores and retained by the French President of the Republic. As a true Mediterranean project, it has French, Italian and Tunisian partners and aims to be duplicated and replicated all around the Mediterranean and in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This farm built in an urban environment, will bring together the following different components: aquaculture production, use of insect feed as aquaculture food, urban market gardening in permacultural form, “food lab” restaurant, training modules and awareness actions. The implementation of these different components will be done through the following actions :

• Aquaculture :
  • Construction of the aquaculture production building;
  • Purchase of aquaculture equipment (tanks, probes, heat pump, sensors, etc.);
  • Hiring of an aquaculture technician and engineer;
  • Launch of the aquaculture workshop with in vivo IMTA test over 6 months;
  • Use of the provision of services/consultant (aquaculture study office, support for the installation of infrastructure and tanks).
• Aquaculture insect feed :
  • Construction of the insect production building (greenhouse or algeco);
  • Material investments for the production of insects, transformation into flour and food, and purchase of raw material for the manufacture of food;
  • Use of the provision of services/consultant (advice and support by an insect-producing industrialist for the installation and sizing of infrastructures; support in setting up a supply system for plant residues insect)
• Permaculture :
  • Construction of the building, with the purchase of a greenhouse operating with solar panels;
  • Material investment with purchase of production equipment, irrigation, first seed, monitoring production systems, composter, etc. ;
  • Use of the provision of services/consultant (advice and support for preparing the land and setting up production units; analysis and monitoring of production).
• Training :
  • Administrative procedures (validation and accreditation of training at national level);
  • Construction of infrastructure (accommodation structures for trainees, training rooms, collective building);
  • Material investment with equipment for teaching rooms;
  • Preparation and management of training (setting up training programs; hiring of trainers; coordination of the training project);
  • Use of the provision of services/consultant (architectural or assembly studies; landscaping)
• Food Lab :
  • Material investment with purchase of equipment for the conservation and processing of food products (oven, dryer, smokehouse, etc.) and purchase of solar cooking equipment;
  • Hiring of the restorer and technician.
• Raising Awareness :
  • Construction of the building;
  • Material investment with purchase of educational material and purchase of safety equipment;
  • Operation of the launch phase with definition of educational material and hiring of the guide.

Objectives

This project aims to develop an operational demonstrator in the heart of cities of a new type of perma-aquacultural urban farm, allowing to :

1. Bring food production as close as possible to the consumption areas of Mediterranean coastal towns, following the principles of circular economy;
2. Decarbonize the food production, transport and conservation by replacing the cold chain with the living chain;
3. Protect marine ecosystems and the ocean by eliminating the fish feed using wild fish, the Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute having developed a new food based on insect meal and microalgae;
4. Create local low-tech jobs;
5. Make the area an attractive center of aquaculture expertise;
6. Reconcile economy and ecology by proposing a new sustainable model of consumption and production, in an ecosystemic approach;
7. Be unifying and have a positive effect for the neighbourhood and local population by creating links and fostering social mixity.

Mediterranean ambition

This project was created to respond to the challenges of the Euro-Mediterranean area. This Mediterranean dimension is found in :

1. The different partners who are members of the group and those associated with the project;
2. The challenges of the future to which the project responds, are those of the future of the Mediterranean rim: energetical and ecological transition, food security and sovereignty, circular economy, protection of marine biodiversity, management of halieutic resources, pollutions, reduction of emissions, creation of ‘low-tech jobs’, training, diversification of jobs, inclusion, reinforcement of social cohesion and diversity;
3. The creation of this demonstrator and, subsequently, its replicability all around the Mediterranean rim, will positively impact Mediterranean populations as well as governments and societies.

Countries involved : France, Italy, Tunisia and Morocco