The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has inaugurated, in the Port of Vigo, the exhibition “Seven years of projects to boost the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture”, a photographic tour showing the main results of the projects of the Pleamar Program corresponding to the period 2014-2020.

This exhibition, which is located in the Paseo de las Avenidas in Vigo and can be visited until the end of March, aims to bring the public closer to the important results and progress made in the preservation of marine ecosystems and the promotion of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, thanks to the co-financing of the European Funds.

The deputy director for Green Transition of the Biodiversity Foundation, Sonia Castañeda, accompanied by Carlos Botana, president of the Port Authority of Vigo, and Paloma Rueda, director-manager of the Technological Center of the Sea (CETMAR) of the Xunta de Galicia, have toured the traveling exhibition, which is co-financed by the European Maritime Fund for Fisheries and Aquaculture (FEMPA), and has four information panels and twenty images, which highlight the importance of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in the conservation of marine ecosystems and as engines of the blue economy.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES for the ecological transition

During the conference, the new Empleaverde+ Program and its call for grants for the acquisition or improvement of skills for the ecological transition, co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), were also presented. This call for proposals, with up to 30 million euros to be published shortly, will support capacity-building projects that respond to the challenges and opportunities associated with this transition.

This call seeks to respond to the needs detected in the study. “Employment and ecological transition. Employment sources, labor transformation and training challenges in sectors related to climate change and biodiversity in Spain.”published in 2023 by the Biodiversity Foundation and the Spanish Climate Change Office, both part of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, which identifies 14 priority sectors with a high potential for transformation, reconversion and job creation. Among these sectors are some closely linked to the blue economy, such as the management of natural heritage and protected areas, ecological restoration, sustainable nature tourism, sustainable fishing and aquaculture, circular economy and renewable energy production, among others.

Finally, the round table “Promoting and boosting training for the green transition in the blue economy: The Pleamar Program and the Empleaverde Program”, where representatives of projects supported in previous calls of the Pleamar and Empleaverde programs, such as the Port Authority of Vigo, the Institute for Sustainable Business Growth (ICSEM), the consultancy Sinerxia or the AMICOS Association, have been able to present results and analyze the synergies between projects of both calls to promote training to promote the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture in the field of sustainable blue economy.