The Secretary General of Fisheries, of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment (MAPAMA), Alberto López-Asenjo, has pointed out that the Ministry is promoting the growth of aquaculture in Spain through the implementation of the Multiannual Strategic Plan for Spanish Aquaculture 2014-2020. To this end, “various strategic actions are being implemented to improve the competitiveness of the sector”.
The Secretary General of Fisheries, Alberto López-Asenjo, inaugurated today, 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.
SUPPORT FOR R+D+i IN AQUACULTURE
During the inauguration, López-Asenjo pointed out that one of the fundamental pillars of MAPAMA’s strategy is the support for R+D+i in aquaculture, which is developed from research centres, 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.
IMPROVING SOCIAL PERCEPTION
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.
López-Asenjo pointed out that “today we continue to take steps in this direction, with a new location of the exhibition, in a place called to become a social and cultural benchmark for this land, such as the Òscar Niemeyer International Cultural Centre in the Principality of Asturias”.
This exhibition, which will remain in Avilés until January 7, 2018, allows visitors to learn about the origins and evolution of aquaculture to the present day, the particularities of marine and continental farming, and the main farmed species.
As usual in the different itinerancies of the exhibition, a full programme of parallel activities is planned in the coming months, including a cycle of conferences-colloquium, under the slogan “Our sea, our fish, our passion”, within the MAPAMA cycle “Dialogues with society on the future of fisheries and aquaculture”.
This cycle will include the programming of 4 sessions to discuss the importance of fishery products, from the gastronomic, nutrition and health, innovative and entrepreneurial and historical perspectives.
For more information, you can consult the exhibition’s website, at the following link: www.acuicultura-descubrela.es
