ECOAQUA will be the official national venue for Aquaculture Day

The Institute facilities at the Marine Science and Technology of the ULPGC in Taliarte, on the island of Gran Canaria, will host the conference on November 30th

The Board of Directors of the Spanish Aquaculture Society (CD-SEA) has chosen the University Institute for Research in Sustainable Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems (ECOAQUA) as the official state-level venue for the celebration of the next National Aquaculture Day which, as every year, will take place on November 30.

IU-ECOAQUA building in Taliarte. Photo by Ángel Medina

The facilities of the institute, located in the Marine Science and Technology Park of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) in Taliarte (Telde), will host a full program of lectures that will be developed with the objective of highlighting aquaculture and its related areas, emphasizing, among others, the food values of the sector, engineering as a tool for the development of aquaculture, the importance of microalgae in it or its role in the context of the circular economy, tasting of aquaculture products, as well as other events organized by the SEA.

Among the fundamental values that have allowed ECOAQUA to be designated to host this event, among the different candidatures presented, the work developed by the Aquaculture Research Group (GIA), coordinated by Professor Juan Manuel Afonso López, which has developed more than 200 international, national and regional research projects since 1990, stands out. It has 43 members, made up of researchers and technical staff of the ULPGC, with common objectives of teaching, research, technology transfer and cooperation for the development in aquaculture.

Juan Manuel Afonso in the aquaculture tanks of the University Institute ECOAQUA in Taliarte. Photo by Ángel Medina

In the last five years (2019-2023), GIA has developed 21 research projects with a total budget of 9.4 million euros. Twelve of these projects are European in scope: ISLANDAP Advanced, AQUAEXCEL 3.0, AquaIMPACT, Aquainvert, AquaVitae, AquaWind, BiomedAqu, INDICIT –II, LIFE AQUA, MIMAR+, PerformFISH and StartCircular.

It also works with the Ecuadorian industry in an industrial research and knowledge transfer project called PMG – BIOGEMAR. This project introduced the BLUP methodology for the selection of fast- growing white shrimp broodstock, improving the growth rates during the ALMAR Group’s larval and fattening processes, with an initial investment of just over two million euros.

Regarding national projects, GIA-ECOAQUA of the ULPGC leads the projects PISCIBIEN, PLANASER 2.0, LARVOOST, and five projects of the regional call BIOASIS for the sector of the Autonomous Community.

The solvency of the proposal, as well as the scientific and transfer trajectory in the aquaculture sector have been some of the keys for the CD-SEA Council to highlight the candidature of ECOAQUA over other competing venues for the celebration of this important day of commemoration for the sector, in which the Institute will open its doors to show its facilities in Taliarte