Owing to the increasing demand for seafood consumption around the globe, aquaculture represents the best opportunity to supply the market while safeguarding natural resources from overfishing. This is particularly the case in developing countries where poor fisher communities depend on marine organisms to survive and where biodiversity is threatened. Our approach is unique because we directly work with local fishing communities as workers (in good conditions) or intermediate agents for growing seafood and teach them how to preserve marine natural resources. Also, our productions are totally sustainable and ecosystem friendly (e.g. we do not inject any drug or other intake in water). Thanks to a large collaboration with public/private and NGO partners, we have already developed sea cucumbers (holothuriculture), algae (algoculture) and corals aquaculture.

Holothuriculture: for centuries, sea cucumbers have been consumed by Asian communities for their potential nutritive, pharmacological and aphrodisiac effects. One kilogram of dried finished product (i.e. trepang) can be sold several hundreds of US Dollars which has caused overfishing in several developing countries such as Madagascar. In collaboration with the University of Toliara, our laboratory managed to control the in vitro fertilization of Holothuria scabra, allowing us to produce sea cucumbers all year round and leading to the creation of the Indian Ocean Trepang industry in 2012. Holothuriculture is now developing in several countries all over the globe (Colombia, Oman,).
Short documentary (in french) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpnmHc4aZ9k

Algoculture: Since 1989, the red algae Cottonii Kappaphycus is cultivated in Madagascar in order to extract carrageenans that are polysaccharides widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties. These algae are harvested by local villagers, sold to the local entreprises that supply the international market. We support the algoculture with fundamental researches to better understand the life cycle of this alga and, in particular, to avoid the Epiphytic Filamentous Diesease that negatively impacts the production.

Because coral reefs are facing a biodiversity decline, the production of corals is a promising aquaculture to supply the need of private reef aquariums and to prevent natural reefs to disappear. Our laboratory is involved in the culture and transport processes. Also, we study the biology of the black corals that are illegally trade to Asia or sold to tourists. Our aim is to better understand these organisms to better protect them in the future.