The Government dedicates €1.4M to promoting innovation in the fisheries sector and strengthening the protection of the marine environment

The subdelegate of the Government in Pontevedra, Abel Losada, announced today that 10 entities of the province will receive 1.37 million euros to develop ten projects aimed at promoting the blue economy, innovation and sustainability of the fisheries and aquaculture sector and strengthening the protection of the Natura 2000 Network in the marine environment. He did so during his visit to the facilities of the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute (BDRI) of O Grove, in which he was accompanied by the mayor of the town, José Cacabelos, and the councilor and deputy mayor, Angeles Dominguez, and the director of the entity, Bruno Díaz.
This organization participates, together with ARVI, in one of the 10 projects of the province selected within the framework of the Pleamar Program. In particular, both entities will carry out a study to minimize negative interactions between cetaceans and the fishing activity of the fence through the use of sound devices.
In this regard, the director of the BDRI, Bruno Díaz, thanked the collaboration of the Government of Spain and stressed the importance of developing projects that favor the sustainability of fishing, as in this particular case, in the field of fencing. For his part, the mayor of the town, stressed “the importance for a municipality such as O Grove to have a scientific institute of reference such as BDRI, which the Executive comes from supporting on a new occasion”.
In addition, eight other entities in the province were selected by the Biodiversity Foundation, part of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, to participate in nine projects with a total budget of 3.3 million euros – co-financed by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (FEMPA). With the resolution of these grants, they are launched at the first call of the new Pleamar program, which aims to reinforce actions that help promote the ecological transition in the marine environment through the improvement of knowledge, conservation and restoration of ecosystems and research in marine resources and governance, focusing on the Natura 2000 Network.
The 43 projects selected in this call will be executed by 54 entities, ten of them based in the province. Thus, the University of Vigo will participate in three projects, aimed at reducing the impact of fishing on the marine environment and advancing aquaculture. In addition, the Port Authority of Vigo, together with the University of Vigo, the University of Oviedo and the CSIC, will promote an initiative to restore port ecosystems,
The Automotive Technology Centre of Galicia (CTAG), in Vigo, will be integrated into a project for the implementation of a national certification of recycling of fishing equipment and the Foundation for Fishing and Shellfish (FUNDAMAR) will participate in a laboratory for the recovery of marine litter.
The Viguese technology center Energy Lab will coordinate the plastic waste recovery project and the County Council of Pontevedra will carry out an environmental awareness program in the environments of the Natura 2000 network.
For its part, the Galician Mussel Regulatory Council (CRMG), based in Vilagarcía de Arousa, will carry out, together with the CSIC, a research on the cultivation of mussel in batea and the Aquaculture Cluster (CETGA) of Vigo, will participate in a project to promote the cultivation of macroalgae.
Abel Losada stressed that this call shows, once again, that “Vigo, the region of Arousa and the province, are consolidated as research engines of the future of the sea-industry chain, since almost 20% of the beneficiary entities are located in the province, which reaches 10% of the budget of the call”. “In these times in which so many uncertainties seem to lurk over the people who live off the sea, it is important that there are investments in R+D+I that guarantee the competitiveness of Galicia,” he said.
Projects will last a maximum of 18 months. No new period 2021-2027 is foreseen the publication of two calls for aid, the next one for 2025, for a total amount of more than 29 million.