The Minister of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, Elena Espinosa, stressed today at the opening of the European Maritime Day events that the preservation of the sea is a collective task in which many agents and institutions are involved.

Thus, the Minister explained in Gijón that the adoption of measures to protect the marine environment is not the exclusive domain of a department of the environment or fisheries, but is the result of adding the actions of all managers, citizens and economic agents.

A joint and coordinated maritime policy that guarantees the sustainable use of the sea requires a specific governance framework, which is based on the premise of plurality: we cannot do it alone, said Elena Espinosa.

The Minister for the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs has indicated that the objective of maritime policy must be to achieve good environmental status of European marine waters through the development of marine strategies that are not seen as a threat, but as an opportunity.

Elena Espinosa recalled that the first initiatives to protect the sea in Spain, 25 years ago, arose from the field of fishing. It was with the creation of marine reserves, addressing protection from a purely sectoral perspective. And he stressed that today, no one questions the benefits that the appearance of these reserves has generated in their areas of influence.

The Minister indicated that it is necessary to make the sea attractive to young people in order to achieve a productive sector with better human resources, based on the fact that the sea is today the heritage and is also the future, so its integrity must be preserved and the various maritime areas must be protected both for their biodiversity and for their sensitivity. 

On the other hand, the Minister of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs explained in the plenary session Innovation for growth and employment that planning the marine environment necessarily implies promoting responsible and innovative research at sea, to guarantee, on the one hand, its conservation through its knowledge and, on the other, to make sustainable use of the resources it offers.
 
Elena Espinosa pointed out that if the situation of the sector is analysed, it can be seen that all the indicators point to the existence of significant deficits in technological innovation, due to the lack of application of existing technologies or due to the lack, at least in certain areas, of technological development adapted to the needs of the different fishing subsectors. The most important obstacle is the lack of information and training, i.e. an absence of a culture of innovation, especially in the small-scale fishing sectors, as well as in small businesses throughout the sector.

To address obstacles to innovation, the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs has developed a network of offices specifically designed to bring innovation closer to the fisheries sector, collaborating with companies in defining their needs and helping them to obtain the necessary funding. There are currently five offices located in Vigo, Madrid, Cádiz, Las Palmas and Valencia, and they are complemented by a network of agents whose mobility reaches the entire national territory.

In addition, since 2004, funds amounting to more than EUR 35 million have been made available to the fisheries sector, both in direct aid and in other forms of support.

The Minister has also opted to make the sea more attractive as a means of livelihood and employment, revaluing professional qualifications and studies in the maritime sector, to offer better professional prospects to the sector; as well as for insisting on improving technological innovation in the shipbuilding and energy sector, to ensure economic competitiveness without harming the environment.