The Secretary General of Fisheries, Alberto López-Asenjo, has inaugurated, together with the mayor of Avilés, Mariví Monteserín; the Minister of Rural Development and Natural Resources of the Principality of Asturias, María Jesús Álvarez González; and the President of the Board of Trustees of the Niemeyer Center Foundation, Vicente Domínguez García, a new itinerancy of the exhibition “Aquaculture? Discover it”, at the Óscar Niemeyer Principality of Asturias International Cultural Centre, in Avilés.

During the inauguration, López-Asenjo pointed out that one of the fundamental pillars of the strategy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, is the support for R+D+i in aquaculture, which is developed by research centers, universities and the Spanish aquaculture companies themselves.

To this end, the General Secretariat of Fisheries has drawn up the Strategic Plan for Innovation and Technological Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture, which will be updated in 2017. As pointed out by the Secretary General, the Ministry has enabled a line for the financing of R+D+i projects through the National Aquaculture Plans.

Likewise, López-Asenjo has stressed the need to strengthen the environmental component in aquaculture activity, for which MAPAMA has launched, through the Biodiversity Foundation, the Pleamar Program. This programme will allow, among other issues, to promote projects aimed at the protection and recovery of marine biodiversity, and the reduction and management of waste and litter at sea.

On the other hand, the Secretary General of Fisheries has pointed out that one of the main challenges facing the aquaculture sector, both Spanish and European, is the need to improve society’s knowledge about its products. As he pointed out, “this is one of the objectives of the Spanish Aquaculture Observatory”, of the Biodiversity Foundation.

Precisely, in 2010 the exhibition “Aquaculture? Discover it”, in collaboration with the National Museum of Natural Sciences, belonging to the CSIC network of museums. Since its launch, in the 10 itineraries that have been held, more than a million people have visited the exhibition. The exhibition brings us closer to this activity, which is vital for providing fish protein to the world’s population.