Santiago de Compostela, Wednesday, 18 September 2024. The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is launching six new research projects in Galicia funded by the call to promote the blue economy and the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture under the Pleamar Programme, co-funded by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) in 2023.
The projects are now getting under way and will last a maximum of 18 months. They are being developed in collaboration with the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge through the Pleamar Programme, with co-funding from the European Union through EMFAF.
The general aim of the call is to support innovative projects that promote the sustainability of fishing and aquaculture activities in line with the Common Fisheries Policy. It is divided into seven areas: interactions and impacts; protection of the marine environment; waste; research in marine resources and governance; environmental awareness; environmental research and aquaculture; and knowledge of the marine environment.
The five IIM projects
“Integrating Nature-Based Solutions into the Restoration of Port Ecosystems (NaturPorts)” has Xosé Antón Álvarez Salgado (Organic Geochemistry Laboratory) and Isabel Medina and Santiago Aubourg (Chemistry of Marine Products) from IIM-CSIC as principal investigators. The Port Authority of Vigo is the coordinating body. In addition to the IIM, the universities of Oviedo and Vigo are taking part.
The project proposes to test and implement three specific nature-based solutions that contribute to the restoration of port ecosystems: turning docks into barnacle farms, rehabilitating rocky reefs and restoring seagrass meadows. The pilot led by CSIC proposes to restore the seagrass meadow at the beach and port of Bouzas (Vigo) through transplantation and sowing measures, including new fatty-acid and lipid biomarkers of physiological stress as monitoring indicators.
“Real-time monitoring of raft mussel farming: tools for flexible and climate-resilient management (MOMENTO)” is coordinated by IIM-CSIC through the EsMaBa and Oceanic Processes in Global Change groups. Laura G. Peteiro is the principal investigator. The Institute of Marine Sciences of CSIC and the Regulatory Council for Galician Mussel are also involved, with collaboration from the Federació de Productors de Mol·luscs Delta de l’Ebre.
The main goal is to develop an early-warning system based on mussels as biosensors, so that the effects of environmental variations can be directly integrated into the physiological state of farmed animals. The project will use a low-cost sensor developed by CSIC that monitors valve behaviour in real time and characterises it as an indicator of thermal-stress episodes, allowing mitigation measures for mussel production to be designed and tested in the Galician Rías and the Ebro Delta.
“Conservation and sustainable exploitation of sea urchin populations through innovative artificial-intelligence-based technologies (PERIZIA)” is coordinated by the Biosystems and Bioprocess Engineering group (Bio2Eng) at IIM-CSIC, under the leadership of Luis Taboada. The IIM Food Biochemistry group and the National Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds are also involved, in close collaboration with the guilds of Ribeira, Cangas, Vigo, Baiona and A Guarda.
The project aims to design and test on board new underwater-vision technologies, including autonomous cameras and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), to generate images of sea-urchin populations and process them using artificial intelligence. This will provide large volumes of data on their real status to support effective and efficient decision-making for the conservation and sustainable exploitation of this valuable resource.
“Production of structured fish oils to valorise discards towards sustainable small-scale coastal fisheries (GELFISH)” is coordinated by the Bio2Eng and Waste Recycling and Valorisation groups at IIM-CSIC and the Industrial Bioproduct Development Technologies group at the University of Santiago de Compostela, with collaboration from the San Andrés de Portosín Fishermen’s Guild.
Its main objective is to valorise fish oil by creating stabilised oleogels. This increases the value of the oil while preserving its nutritional benefits in a format more suitable for the canning industry, promoting better use of marine resources. The ultimate aim is to encourage compliance with the landing obligation by making use of biomass that was previously discarded.
“Recovery of plastics present in marine litter for their valorisation into products that contribute to ecological balance in the marine environment through circular alternatives with a local participatory approach (POLYBRIS)” is coordinated by the technology centre EnergyLab. The IIM-CSIC Marine Biogeochemistry group (Antonio Cobelo and Ricardo Prego) and the Cabildo de Tenerife are taking part.
The project promotes marine-environment sustainability and participation in circular alternatives based on optimised processes for the thermochemical valorisation of plastic waste found in marine litter. This waste will be transformed into value-added products capable of selectively capturing organic and inorganic pollutants and heavy metals in waters and effluents from maritime and fisheries environments.
The IEO-Coruña project
“Assessment and mitigation of accidental seabird mortality in fishing gear in the North Atlantic demarcation (NORAVES)” is coordinated by the Centre for University Extension and Environmental Outreach of Galicia (CEIDA). The A Coruña Oceanographic Centre (National Centre of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography-CSIC), SEO/BirdLife and CORYS SCCL are taking part. For IEO-CSIC, the principal investigator is Lucía Cañás.
The objective is to carry out a comprehensive assessment of accidental seabird mortality in fishing gear in the North Atlantic marine demarcation, especially in its Special Protection Areas for Birds. The project includes analysis of fishing activity, monitoring of target species, joint analysis to identify overlaps and interactions between birds and fisheries, and the testing and proposal of mitigation and management measures for administrations and the fishing sector.