Innovation Capabilities & Products

Govocitos is a free image analysis software that allows for easy and accurate determination of reproductive parameters in fish based on histological images. Although designed to estimate fish fertility, its applications are expandable to other counting, measurement and classification problems (i.e. pollen count, oncology and cytology, etc.).

More information here.

Identification of new molecular markers for species identification through Next-Generation Sequencing in environmental DNA samples, with applications for biodiversity monitoring and fisheries stock assessment. 

Monitoring temporal and spatial distribution of species, abundance and biomass from several taxa using different techniques such as e-DNA, pigment characterization, flow cytometry, acoustic telemetry, images collected from remote observation systems (i.e. drones, etc.) or classic taxonomic identification.  

Development of space-specific tools for assessment, management and decision-making by modeling the impacts of present and possible future environmental scenarios (pollution, climate change, etc.) on oceanographic conditions, biodiversity distribution, physiological response or fisheries and aquaculture performance.  

Development of Deep Learning algorithms that allow automating fisheries monitoring processes and reducing time and costs compared with processing by human observers. The applications developed range from innovative systems for real-time remote electronic monitoring, which identify and quantify total catches of fishing vessels (e.g., iObserver), to new image recognition techniques that allow individually identifying fish and estimating population parameters. 

Development of stock assessment models to estimate fish population status and Maximum Sustainable Yields for fisheries, based on fishing pressure data and population dynamics parameters (abundance, distribution, age, fecundity, etc.) obtained using traditional approaches and -omic techniques, which allow for a much higher spatial resolution. 

Use of acoustic tags and biotelemetry techniques to monitor fish behavior and assess the survival of fisheries by-catch.

Pathogen detection and identification in wild and farmed animals, as well as in seafood products. Evaluation of the relationship between pathogen incidence and various environmental and physiological aspects to provide risk assessments for target pathogens.

The definition and description of ecosystems involving marine resources, in terms of scale, extent, structure, and functioning. This includes characterizing the spatial, structural, and functional aspects of marine-coastal ecosystems as basic units for environmental land-use planning.

The evaluation of marine ecosystem status, defined in terms of environmental health or integrity and established as what is acceptable to society, as well as the assessment of threats. This involves using indicators of ecosystem extent and condition.