ACTIVITIES OF CENAKVA

Activities of CENAKVA are solved in cooperation with research centers and organizations in the Czech Republic and Europe, which use our unique background since the establishment of the center. Specifically, the CENAKVA center has conducted contractually agreed cooperation and sharing of infrastructures with large centers in the Czech Republic in 2013-15; for example, with CEITEC, BIOCEV and CzechGlobe and with centers in regions, with the Haná center, ADMIREVET and ALGATECH. Since its establishment, CENAKVA has been interconnected within Europe and by a consortium of 22 research institutes and faculties in Europe, focusing on fisheries and water protection in the network under the name AQUAEXCEL and with our participation in the ESFRI ELIXIR, EMBRC, eLTER and Danubius-RI. The center has created strong international strategic partnerships and has supported a specific commercial activity by licensing and patents in order to achieve efficient innovations. Commercially, the center fullfils indicators of contractual research at the level of about CZK 10 mil. annually in cooperation with partners in the Czech Republic and the EU. It is the part of six research consortia in the framework of EU projects, which are involved in the budget of the center with average of CZK 12 mil. annually.
The CENAKVA belongs among the smallest research centres in size, but it excels in its importance, activity, individuality and ambition. The significance of this infrastructure is well demonstrated by its current position among the other centers, and in particular, clearly quantifiable cost ratio for the establishment/operation vs. achieved outcomes and their quality. The CENAKVA is a leader among centers built in the framework of the Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation, including in comparison to larger centers with investment costs in the billions of CZK), while investment of CENAKVA was one of the smallest. In the long term, CENAKVA gets high ranking among 45 centers of the Czech Republic by the number of scientific outputs and citations in Web of Science database.

THE EVROPEAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIQUENESS OF CENAKVA

The main experimental and technological premises of CENAKVA include the Genetic Fisheries Center and the Experimental Fish Culture and the Facility with specialized aquarium and aquaponic technologies. Workplaces together with specialized technologies provides the capability to conduct complex experiments under controlled conditions according to the needs of the research teams’ experimental designs. We manage about 40 hectares of ponds in Vodňany with stocks of 23 species of freshwater fishes of all ages counting about 250,000 specimens (45 t). For example, we maintain 21 breeds, lines and hybrid populations of common carp (Cyprinus carpio), 11 breeds and color varieties of tench (Tinca tinca), two breeds and an albino form of catfish (Silurus glanis). We are proud to have successfully bred 10 species of globally threatened cartilaginous fish, particularly sturgeon in the past years, starting in 2001. We use a total of 71 own ponds ranging from 0.01 to 12 ha in size and we stock fish in another 50 ha under lease agreements. For intensive aquaculture, we have built 3200 m2 of various fish breeding halls and aquarium rooms with 18 thermally controlled recirculating low-waste systems of nearly 82 m3 capacity. We also possess outdoor or flow-through breeding troughs and pools for seasonal breeding of fish and crayfish with a total volume of 260 m3. We maintain cultures of several non-native crayfish and model fish species. These unique conditions for monitored and controlled aquaculture are on a similar scale to those which can be found only in Norway and Spain, but with a different focus. Entire infrastructure is further equipped with necessary instrumentation, including state-of-the-art analytical laboratory that fulfils the needs of target research programs.

 DEVELOPMENT OF CENAKVA

Establishment of the research infrastructure is linked to the beginning of the year 2010 and the start of activities of the South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses (CENAKVA) that was developed with support from the Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation (CZK 273 mil. – CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0024). In the same year, the center was closely integrated within the organizational structure of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (USB), namely the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters (FFPW USB). During the years 2010 – 2012 the modern infrastructure developed including appropriate equipment and the necessary human resources. The full operation of the newly established research infrastructure began in 2012. The main mission of the CENAKVA is to engage in the highest quality science, research and applications required for development of fisheries, aquaculture and sustainable management of freshwater systems. We were about to initiate the construction and renovation buildings of the center – the main building of the FFPW USB, Genetic Fisheries Center, Experimental Fish Culture Facility incl. trough rearing). In 2013, full utilization of the infrastructural capacity was attained – full operation of the R&D instrumentation, newly created jobs, accreditation of laboratories etc. In the year 2014, the research infrastructure received support from the state budget, specifically from the the National Sustainability Programme (NPU I) with a total of about CZK 124 millions for the fulfillment of defined objectives – to comprehensively understand the ongoing processes in freshwater ecosystems and their societal importance with the respect to conservation of biodiversity and protection of water environment, but also the protection of water resources for life and human activities. At the moment, CENAKVA is already perceived as a unique structure in Europe, having excellent scientists, academics, post-docs, students, administrators and technicians. The center flexibly responds to the societal changes in science, scientific content and applications through its human resources. In the context of the international dimension the research infrastructure appointed advisory bodies in the year 2015 (also, completing the first international evaluation) – The International Scientific Advisory Board of the FFPW USB and CENAKVA (SAB) and the Control Board of CENAKVA. By January 1 2017, 166 emplees were involved in CENAKVA. On the basis of the recommendations of the International Scientific Board of Faculty and CENAKVA, and in connection with the end of the National Sustainability Program I (NPU I) in 2018, 4 new research programs were prepared to be resolved by CENAKVA. The new CENAKVA research programs were implemented in 2017 in the structure of the faculty. CENAKVA successfully undergone international evaluation in 2018 and was placed on the Roadmap of large research infrastructures of the Czech Republic, with open access funding from 2019.

University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters
South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses
Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany
tel.: +420 387 774 666 fax: 387 774 634