The European aquaculture sector is facing increasing pressure. Disease outbreaks are happening more often, climate change is impacting aquatic ecosystems, and producers are under growing scrutiny to cut back on antibiotics. Since seafood production is crucial for global food security, taking action is urgent.
Cure4Aqua, an EU-funded Horizon Europe project, is rising to the challenge. Its mission is to improve fish health and welfare while supporting more sustainable, low-pharmaceutical production systems. By bringing together researchers, industry and policymakers, the project is transforming the approach to diagnosing, preventing and managing aquaculture diseases across Europe.
Launched in late 2022 and running until 2027, Cure4Aqua involves 31 partners from 16 countries, including research institutions, universities, SMEs, veterinary labs and aquaculture producers. Coordinated by the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences (BCAS), the project has a budget of €4.8 million. It represents one of the most comprehensive disease and welfare-focused initiatives in European aquaculture to date.
Tackling complex diseases with limited tools
Disease remains one of the most significant threats to fish production, resulting in substantial losses and necessitating costly interventions. Parasites, bacteria and viruses can spread rapidly, particularly in high-density environments. Despite this, many farms still lack access to rapid diagnostics, effective vaccines and non-antibiotic treatment options. Measuring and improving fish welfare is another challenge, especially across different species and life stages, where universal indicators are difficult to apply.
Cure4Aqua’s approach: from diagnosis to prevention
Cure4Aqua is working across several key areas:
- Diagnostics: developing low-cost, on-farm tests, AI-powered prediction tools and non-invasive hormone monitoring.
- Vaccination: designing effective vaccines for five major fish pathogens and improving vaccine delivery methods for use in hatcheries and farms.
- Selective breeding: identifying epigenetic and microbiome markers that can be used to breed more resilient fish.
- Welfare: creating species-specific welfare standards and indicators to help farmers assess and improve welfare across production systems.
- Control strategies: exploring phage therapy, probiotics and antimicrobial peptides to reduce reliance on antibiotics and promote natural disease resistance.
Cure4Aqua is also developing economic models that allow farmers to understand the costs and benefits of adopting new solutions, while ensuring the tools developed are both practical and cost-effective.