The Campus del Mar of the University of Vigo has led a project that, under the name of AQUADAPT – Plan for the Adaptation of the Spanish marine aquaculture sector to climate change, seeks to contribute to the adaptation of the marine culture of turbot, sea bream and sea bass to the effects of climate change in the national territory.

The project, which has had the support of the Biodiversity Foundation, has involved scientists from the University of Vigo, the University of Santiago de Compostela, and has had the collaboration of the Galician Aquaculture Cluster (CETGA) and the Aquaculture Technology Center of Andalusia (CTAQUA).

AQUADAPT aimed to contribute to the adaptation of the Spanish marine aquaculture sector to the effects of climate change, through the development of an Adaptation Plan in the 2050 horizon, which will serve as a support tool for planning and management. The aim is to increase the generation of information on different environmental, economic and social variables and to facilitate its access and availability to different interest groups: R+D+i agents, the business sector and public administrations with competences.

The initiative has focused on the cultivation of turbot, sea bream and sea bass; and the study included the two main farming systems for these species: closed-circuit land-based facilities and sea cages, selecting two case studies, one in Galicia, in the Atlantic Ocean, for its importance in turbot production; and another in the Valencian Community, in the Mediterranean, for its relevance in the cultivation of sea bream and sea bass.

Although no significant effects or damage caused by climate change have been detected, they do foresee impacts (positive, negative and neutral) in five years, so an Adaptation Plan for the sector is considered necessary.

To this end, based on the diagnosis of the Spanish marine aquaculture sector in the face of the effects of climate change, 4 critical points have been identified that need to be addressed in order to adapt the sector to climate change and which are in turn defined as the lines of action of the Adaptation Plan (H2050): increase in scientific/sectoral knowledge on the impact of climate change; strengthening adaptation regulations; availability/access to financing for adaptation and collaboration with stakeholders for knowledge transfer. The implementation of this H2050 Adaptation Plan with the design of the Action Plan (2 years) (new R+D+i lines/projects, workshops) will contribute to reducing the vulnerability of the sector and maintaining its competitiveness.

In addition, the lines of action (16 lines) are derived from each of these axes and, in turn, from each line have been identified those actions (23 actions) that can be implemented in the short term (1-2 years) and that make up the Action Plan.