To meet the objective to promote the environmentally sustainable development of sea and aquacultural resources, AZTI-Tecnalia will be undertaking the scientific work which the Ministry for the Environment will be specifying through its General Secretariat for the Sea. The agreement anticipates work like scientific campaigns to calculate the biomass of various marine species, or technical advice for the plans to revive the species that are at risk.

The relationship between AZTI-Tecnalia and the General Secretariat for the Sea dates back to 2006 and the satisfactory experience has led to the signing of this new agreement which specifies that the Basque R+D centre is the "right institution for carrying out collaboration projects that contribute towards improving the efficiency of the fishery sectors, aquaculture, and the transformation and marketing of their products."

The General Secretariat for the Sea and AZTI-Tecnalia will be carrying out joint studies of marine resources and their fishery, shellfishery and aquaculture products. In addition to studying the state of these resources, reports will be produced on the processing, transformation, preservation and marketing of sea products.

AZTI-Tecnalia believes that collaboration with the General Secretariat for the Sea constitutes an effective way of achieving greater inter-institutional co-operation and better use of the R+D resources of the two bodies. Likewise, the agreement is expected to promote greater involvement of the production sector in the development of activities to do with research and technological innovation.

Top research centre in marine and foodstuff research

The collaboration agreement highlights AZTI-Tecnalia's position as a top centre in marine and foodstuff research within Spain. The agreement stipulates that the R+D centre will be rendering information and advisory services on maritime, environmental and agri-foodstuff matters to institutions, public and private companies, and fishermen's guilds. The R+D centre will also be supporting the dissemination of the results of its research among the general public.

The work carried out by AZTI-Tecnalia for the General Secretariat for the Sea includes the following: since 2006, the campaigns to provide an estimate of young anchovy biomass (Juvena), co-funded by the Government of the Basque Autonomous Community (region); since 2008, the scientific campaigns to calculate the indices of abundance of the Greenland halibut; and since 2008, AZTI-Tecnalia has been providing the General Secretariat for the Sea with technical advice in the plans to revive the eel in Spain.

AZTI-Tecnalia and the General Secretariat for the Sea

AZTI-Tecnalia is a Foundation whose aim is to promote the research and study of the marine, agri-food, and environmental sciences and, in general, those related to natural resources and the marine environment. In this context, it contributes towards improving efficiency in the fishery sectors, aquaculture, the processing of fishery products and all the activities directly and indirectly relating to the use of the exploitation of the sea and its resources.

The General Secretariat for the Sea, which reports to the Ministry for the Environment and Rural and Marine Areas, exercises its powers in planning and executing policies in the following areas: sea fishing in external waters and aquaculture; the basic planning of the fishery sector; the bases for the marketing and processing of fishery products; and participation in research policy planning in fishery matters.

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