FISH2SUSTAIN card

Key facts

  • Full title: From Life-Cycle Science to Cross-Border Action for Resilient Fish Migration in Europe
  • Programme: Horizon Europe, Cluster 6 (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment)
  • Call topic: HORIZON-CL6-2026-02-FARM2FORK-08
  • Type of action: Research and Innovation Action
  • Duration: 48 months, start date to be confirmed
  • Coordinator: University of Antwerp (Belgium)
  • Consortium: 15 partners from 12 countries
  • EuroMarine role: leader of the science-policy-stakeholder dialogue and coordinator of the project's community of practice
  • Grant agreement: in preparation

Context of the call

FISH2SUSTAIN was selected under the 2026 Horizon Europe Cluster 6 call (HORIZON-CL6-2026-02), within the Farm to Fork destination, and is currently in grant agreement preparation. The project addresses the decline of migratory fish populations, which depend on connected habitats across rivers, transitional waters and the sea and are affected by climate change, barriers to migration and other human pressures. It contributes to the implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation, the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Objectives

  • Harmonise life-history monitoring and analytical practices across regions and life stages.
  • Improve knowledge of the life-history parameters and multi-stressor responses of key migratory fish species.
  • Develop and validate cumulative impact models of full life-cycle dynamics under interacting climatic and human pressures.
  • Co-design a modular predictive modelling and decision-support system based on an AI-enabled Digital Twin.
  • Engage stakeholders at all levels in co-design, for interoperable monitoring and the uptake of results in management.
  • Facilitate knowledge exchange and strengthen evidence-based conservation and management capacity at regional and transboundary scale.

Consortium

FISH2SUSTAIN brings together universities, research centres, river and wetland organisations, European networks and companies from 12 countries. EuroMarine member organisations are marked with an asterisk (*).

  • University of Antwerp, Belgium, coordinator
  • Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark *
  • Westcountry Rivers Trust, United Kingdom
  • Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
  • Centre of Marine Sciences of the Algarve (CCMAR), Portugal *
  • University of Bologna, Italy *
  • G.R.A.I.A., Italy
  • University of Patras, Greece
  • Daugavpils University, Latvia
  • University of A Coruña, Spain
  • SmartWater Planet, Spain
  • Eurofish International Organisation, Denmark
  • EuroMarine Association, France
  • Wetlands International Europe, Netherlands
  • Europroject, Bulgaria

EuroMarine's contribution

The EuroMarine Secretariat will lead the structured dialogue between science, policy and stakeholders, and the co-design of research priorities and indicators. It will establish and coordinate a community of practice on migratory fish and, together with Eurofish and Wetlands International Europe, mobilise its network to engage stakeholders and invite leading experts to the project's External Advisory Board.

Relevance for EuroMarine members

Researchers from EuroMarine member organisations will be invited to join the community of practice, workshops and training activities, and to contribute to policy-ready guidance on the conservation and management of migratory fish.