Meet our team – WP7 – Social acceptability and governance of aquaculture development in the Mediterranean

Aquaculture development is one of the mail pillars of the European Blue Growth Strategy that can be also addressed at the whole of the Mediterranean eco-region. However, this development is facing many technical, technological, social and economic challenges. In addition, as is the case with other recent activities requiring for space (eg. wind farms….), aquaculture should be aware of its role within the coastal and marine social ecological systems in a way to convince the society about its benefits. In general, Social Acceptability as a concept has been rejected by the social sciences because it has been interpreted as the way of making political decisions. Social acceptability stems from major shortcomings on two levels: that of local acceptability, because of the impact the projects in question have on communities directly affected (noise, pollution, traffic, safety, property values, etc.); and that of social relevance, because developers have proven to be unable of convincing communities that projects will meet certain guidelines or expectations (sectoral policies, direct and indirect economic spinoffs, overall environmental impacts).Continue reading

Meet our team – WP5 – Product development, market and consumer assessment

The changes that the European consumer is experiencing in terms of new lifestyles, trends and habits in food purchasing and consumption, and others as increasing food environmental awareness, are influencing the development of innovations in the food market regarding new products concepts but also affecting production and market strategies and commercialization channels.

Mediterranean aquaculture industry faces these new challenges in an increasingly globalized market with competitiveness as the key factor and in which Innovations in the supply chain are as important as innovations in production. With and Increasing fish demand Aquaculture will be the clearly most important seafood production technology in next years.Continue reading

Meet our team – WP1 – Holistic sustainability assessment of Mediterranean marine fish farming sector

Aerial view of IRTA Centre at San Carles de la Ràpita (Delta del Ebro, Tarragona, Spain)

The aquaculture industry is in a period of total reinvention around the world, but at Mediterranean level there is a need to increase the competitiveness and sustainability of the whole value chain, because even although there seems to be an acceleration in the reorganization of the sector, there has not been a significant increase in production.

Aquaculture as a business generates an economic interest but, above all, we cannot forget that aquaculture is a source of food, crucial and essential to feed humanity and to ensure the world’s food security. This is clearly specified in the analysis document of the State of Fisheries and Aquaculture FAO 2016, which states that “aquaculture will become the main driver of change in the fisheries and aquaculture sector“. Aquaculture is the productive industrial activity that will play a crucial role in providing solutions to the millennium challenges. Globally this is the main idea that exists under the MedAID EU Horizon 2020 project, increasing the overall competitiveness and sustainability of the whole value chain in the Mediterranean marine aquaculture sector and contributing to provide solutions.Continue reading