The Director General of Sustainability of the Coast and the Sea of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, Raquel Orts and the Director General of Fisheries Management and Aquaculture, José Luis González Serrano, have chaired the presentation of the beneficiary entities of the 2017 call for subsidies of the Pleamar Program, an initiative coordinated by the Ministry, through the Biodiversity Foundation, and for which 3.8 million euros will be allocated this year.
This programme aims to promote projects that strengthen the protection and recovery of marine biodiversity, contribute to reducing and managing marine waste and litter and improve the knowledge and management of Spanish Marine Protected Areas, with a special focus on the Natura 2000 Network. It also seeks to support the fishing sector in two of the biggest challenges it faces, reducing by-catches and advancing in the use of discards, all through innovation, collaboration with the scientific community and fishermen.
Raquel Orts highlighted, during her speech, the important role that fishing and aquaculture activities can play in the protection and conservation of the biodiversity of coastal areas, especially in marine protected areas, highlighting the commitment of the sector in aspects as relevant as the fight against marine litter or the reduction of impacts on certain species of birds. turtles and cetaceans.
For his part, González Serrano, has highlighted the relevance of the approved projects, to respond to some of the main challenges faced by the fishing and aquaculture sector, such as the reduction of by-catches or the use of discards and has indicated that they will closely follow the progress that is obtained.
In this first call for grants, 43 projects have been selected out of the 83 initially presented, with a total endowment of 3,851,244.64 euros, of which around 64% will be contributed by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The selected projects will have a maximum duration of 12 months.
Axis 1, focused on fisheries and aquaculture innovation, has 15 selected projects and an endowment of 1,602,734 euros in this first call. These projects seek to support the sector in the implementation of environmental innovations, which reduce the effects of fishing and aquaculture activities on the environment, especially those that have to do with the reduction of by-catches and the use of discards. In the aquaculture field, innovations are aimed at strengthening the environmental sustainability of aquaculture practices.
Among the beneficiary entities of this axis and their partners, are some of the main scientific institutions in the fisheries and aquaculture field of our country.
In the advisory and networking areas, a total of 9 projects have been selected, with a total amount of 273,306 euros. These projects seek to strengthen collaboration between the fisheries and aquaculture sector and the scientific community, promoting networking, the transfer and exchange of R+D+i results and the generation of synergies between them in the field of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.
Axis 4, focused on Marine Protected Areas, aims to promote the improvement of fishing and aquaculture activities in the areas of the Natura 2000 Network and other marine protected areas, promoting the management, recovery and monitoring of these spaces. A total of 12 projects have been selected for this purpose, with a total amount of 1,421,747 euros.
All the projects that seek to promote the improvement of the sustainability of fishing and aquaculture practices in the Natura 2000 Network are linked to the LIFE IP INTEMARES project, the largest marine conservation project in Europe and which pursues the innovative, participatory and integrated management of the Spanish marine Natura 2000 Network.
The waste axis will have a project and an endowment of 135,847 euros aimed mainly at improving the management of waste generated by the fishing and aquaculture sector and in turn, to reduce the number of existing waste at sea through the collaboration of fishermen, contributing to a better conservation of marine biological resources.
Finally, the awareness-raising axis seeks to convey to society the importance of protecting and recovering marine biodiversity through the promotion of increasingly sustainable fishing and aquaculture activities and products.
To this end, 6 projects have been selected that will have an endowment of 417,610 euros.
The Pleamar Programme, which will be developed during the period 2017-2023, contemplates the publication of at least 6 annual calls for subsidies, co-financed by the EMFF, with the publication of a new call expected in the first quarter of 2018.
