Spain looks into offshore aquaculture
Harald Jelsa, Director for export sales of Akvagroup, said to Fish Farming Xpert that “there´s a bright future for aquaculture in Spain, especially in landbase species like turbot in Galicia, and gilthead seabass and seabream in the sea. We find Spain quite interesting. One of our main businesses is offshore aquaculture to provide good barges and good working and safe conditions. For us offshore aquaculture is what we will go for in the future”. Roberto Tishler, Vice President for International Marketing of Subflex Ltd, said that “this is the best solution for every fish farmer who needs to set up an installation far from the coast in the open sea where the conditions are not friendly”. It´s very important for the Goverment and the environmentalists that the fish cages go offshore, and the producers know about this”.
The manager of the Spanish Association of Marine Aquaculture Producer (Apromar), Javier Ojeda, added that marine fish farming production for 2007 was 40.000 TM in Spain, considering gilthead seabass, seabream and turbot. According to Apromar the projecting growth for 2008 will be 45.000 TM of these marine species.Rafael Louzán, the president of the county council of Pontevedra said that owing to its productive capacity and the natural conditions, Galicia and the “rías baixas” have great potential. “Aquaculture plays a significant an complementary role in satisfying the demand for fish in the European Union”, affirmed Louzán.
Less interest For three days, from June 3rd to the 5 th, companies related to aquaculture and new technologies met in Vilagarcía de Arousa, Galicia, Spain, at the 3rd International Exhibition of Aquaculture Products, ACUI 2008. Stallholders from 15 different countries, such as Spain, Norway, Italy, Greece and Israel, have participated this year, said Andrés Gradin, director of ACUI 2008.
In general, there were fewer companies represented this time than in the past exhibitions, due perhaps to the lack of support from local councils, like the Xunta de Galicia and the Junta de Andalucía, and the absence of the mussel and turbot producers, that is to say, the most important aquaculture production in Galicia.
Most of the technologies shown in the event were related to nets and sea cages for fish farming for the future development of offshore aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands
In the event, the Israeli company Subflex Ltd. presented their submergible and flexible netcages for fish farming. This type of technology has been used for gilthead seabass and seabream farming for the last 3 years in Israel and they now are assembling the first full scale Subflex system in the south coast of this country that will be anchored in the Mediterranean, 11 km offshore at 60 meters depth.
