Today we celebrate Aquaculture Day, an activity that, in our country, maintains its commitment to sustainability and the creation of employment, wealth and well-being in numerous rural and coastal areas of our geography.

Today we celebrate Aquaculture Day, an activity that, in our country, maintains its commitment to sustainability and the creation of employment, wealth and well-being in numerous rural and coastal areas of our geography. Within the framework of the blue economy, aquaculture is the food production sector that has grown the most in recent decades. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2018 it contributed 62.5% of the world’s production of fish for human consumption.

In Spain, more than 40 species of fish, molluscs, crustaceans and algae are currently farmed from the nearly 580 aquatic species that are farmed in the world and we are leaders in research, technological development and innovation, with about 50 research centers and 90 university departments that work to promote aquaculture in our country. These centres lead projects and research at an international level, being benchmarks in the cultivation of species such as bluefin tuna, sole or, more recently, octopus.

From the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge we support the aquaculture sector in its commitment to increasingly sustainable activities committed to the protection and conservation of biodiversity, promoting collaboration between agents and the monitoring of the aquaculture sector through the Spanish Aquaculture Observatory and supporting environmental projects through the Pleamar Program. co-financed by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). Thanks to this program we have managed to support, in the last 4 calls for subsidies resolved, a total of 31 projects of environmental innovation, advice and promotion of networking in aquaculture. All the information on these initiatives can be found on the website  www.programapleamar.es.

AQUACULTURE DAY

In 2012, the Spanish Aquaculture Observatory (OESA) of the Biodiversity Foundation, in coordination with the Spanish Aquaculture Society (SEA) and other associations and entities in the sector, promoted the celebration of Aquaculture Day. In this year, in which we celebrate its tenth edition, nearly  15 scientific, productive, informative or gastronomic activities linked to aquaculture, aimed at all audiences, to make aquaculture known to society through the actions programmed in these days.

The objective of this celebration is to convey to society the importance of this sector in our country and its commitment to sustainable development, R+D+i and the creation of wealth and well-being in rural and coastal areas.