The Director General of Fisheries Management and Aquaculture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, Jose Luis González Serrano, participated today in the Launch Day of the ATLAS Project on viability for the development of ocean aquaculture in Spain, which was held at the Science and Technology Park of Cantabria. A participation that is part of the Department’s commitment to the sustainable development of aquaculture and the promotion of knowledge spaces.
In his speech with the presentation “Aquaculture in the context of “Blue Growth”, González Serrano highlighted the enormous economic opportunity that the oceans represent, as long as we are able to unite traditional activities, such as fishing, shipbuilding, transport or tourism, with emerging activities, such as offshore aquaculture, the exploitation of deep-sea energy resources, renewable energy or new bioeconomic sectors. To achieve this potential, he pointed out, the economic and environmental implications of all these industries must be considered when they affect the same environment.
BLUE GROWTH
He also highlighted the blue growth initiative developed by Spain, indicating that it synthesizes the different approaches currently present in our society and, at the same time, responds to the important challenges and commitments derived from the European Union’s strategy. All this, he pointed out, also taking into account the geographical differences existing in our country, a principle that is at the foundation of the concept of blue growth.
This strategy, he stressed, involves a significant effort to integrate policies that have been dispersed until now in order to achieve, by bringing them together under the same concept, a better understanding of the impact that, on a given geographical environment, they can produce when they converge in it. This understanding, he added, will produce positive synergies between the different managers and will improve the ability to generate new ideas that will undoubtedly result in sustainable economic development, as well as social development, always having environmental balance as a premise.
The Conference, which has brought together representatives of the Administration, the scientific field, the fishing sector and business, among others, favoring a climate of debate and results in a coordinated way, has had the purpose of publicizing the objectives, actions and products of the “ATLAS Project”, developed by the Institute of Environmental Hydraulics of Cantabria (IHCantabria). within the 2017 Call of the PLEAMAR program of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Environment and Food. To this end, a presentation session and debates have been organised on the potential of aquaculture in the maritime space of our country, within the new European context of Blue Growth.
