The director of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Sonia Castañeda, presented today, at the Museum of Underwater Archaeology (ARQUA) in Cartagena, the prizes of the drawing and writing contest “Aquaculture: biodiversity and history”, which has been organized within the framework of the exhibition Aquaculture? Discover it that has been on display for 9 months in this Museum.
 
In total, more than 250 students from different schools throughout Spain have participated in the contest. Students from Early Childhood Education, Primary Education from 1st to 3rd year, Primary Education from 4th to 6th year, First Cycle of ESO and Second Cycle of ESO (up to 16 years old) have participated in the drawing contest. For its part, the Writing contest was called for Primary Education students from 4th to 6th grade, First Cycle of ESO and Second Cycle of ESO (up to 16 years old).
 
During the closing of the exhibition, the 6 prizes and 9 runners-up prizes corresponding to the contest were awarded, whose objective was to disseminate the benefits of aquaculture products among the school population and improve consumers’ knowledge of this productive activity, paying special attention to its sustainability and development prospects. During the awards ceremony, Sonia Castañeda was accompanied by Iván Negreruela. Director of ARQUA, Carmen Teodora, general director of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Region of Murcia, Obdulia Gómez, councilor of the City of Cartagena and representatives of the Federation of Aquaculturists of the Region of Murcia.
 
The exhibition Aquaculture? Discover it, inaugurated in 2010 at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, has been to eight destinations in Spain. In this time, it has had more than a million visitors. Through an informative tour, the exhibition covers the history of aquaculture, the evolution of this sector in Spain, marine and continental farming, the role it plays in food, the importance of R+D+i and the relevance of this activity in sustainable development and international cooperation, among other topics.

The next itinerancy will be at the Castellón Planetarium where it is scheduled to be inaugurated during the month of September 2016.