Fishing organizations take part at the # OPPsEnAcción congress, which is being developed at the Vigo Sea Museum

The fishing sector is sailing towards the future: rigid sails, ‘blockchain’ for fresh fish and online auctions

SPAIN
Friday, September 20, 2019, 06:00 (GMT + 9)

• Organizations from Andalusia, Galicia and the Basque Country staged with their experiences the first day of the # OPPsEnAcción congress in Vigo.

• The new technologies center the projects developed by Opromar, Puerto de Celeiro, Shipowners of Punta del Moral (Huelva), Orpagu and the OPP of Altura de Ondárroa under the protection of fishing production plans.

Vigo - After the opening ceremony in the morning, in which authorities from Galicia, the Basque Country and Andalusia participated, the fishing organizations took the floor at the # OPPsEnAcción congress, which is being developed at the Vigo Sea Museum, and presented some of the activities that have been carried out in the last year under the production plans contemplated in the Regulation of the European Union.

Inagural ceremony authorities

Previously, Juan Carlos Martín Fragueiro, the managing director of Opromar, the organizer of the event, and the general director of Fisheries of Galicia, Mercedes Rodríguez, made a brief summary of the work carried out by the Organizations of Fisheries Producers (OPP's), the objectives they pursue and the instruments they enjoy to finance the different actions they carry out. In this regard, Martín Fragueiro said that from 2015 to date, Opromar has developed a total of 40 initiatives aimed at creating added value for its products and enhancing the sustainability of the marine environment. The managing director of the Marín organization highlighted the potential of production plans, while criticizing the expense that organizations must incur “before receiving aid”, uncertainty “for the delay in the operation of the mechanisms of subsidy ”and the excessive bureaucracy of these plans.

For its part, Mercedes Rodríguez, general director of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Innovation of the Xunta, referred to the effectiveness and operation of organizations, "which now nobody doubts," and highlighted some of the actions that can be included in production plans.

The first part of the afternoon was closed by Anne Claire Marangoni, a consultant working for DG Mar, who addressed the issue of transnational producer organizations. Marangoni is currently working on a pilot project requested by the European Parliament that wants to know if there is a need to promote this type of organizations (transnationals) and if so, decide what measures should be carried out.

Success stories: innovation and research

The first day of the meeting continued with the presentation of five of the innovative projects that have raised the most interest in the sector.

The first, the monitoring of ships through the electronic observer. Its result in the pilot campaigns has shown a series of advantages over the physical observer in terms of compliance with the legislation, space savings and the rapid recovery of the budget invested. This was stated in his speech Estíbaliz Martínez, of Datafish, and Óscar González, of Marine Instruments. Both reported on the experiences in different fishing areas and on vessels of different sizes (freezer tuna vessels, longliners ...).

Secondly, Alonso Abreu, president of the Association of Shipowners Punta del Moral (OPP80) of Ayamonte, explained the start-up of the organization's online store, aimed at both individuals and wholesalers, who have their own section that It allows them access to the auction auction “from anywhere in Spain thanks to a quick and simple system”.

Congress participants at the headquarters of Museo do Mar of Vigo

In the case of Puerto de Celeiro, Eduardo Míguez, its deputy director, listed several of the initiatives carried out by the Lucense organization, which have earned him several national awards. Along these lines, he highlighted the project they have launched with Carrefour, a ‘blockchain’ for fresh fish, the first worldwide in this segment. It is a QR system of traceability and total transparency, which offers greater security against tampering and fraud.

Fourth, the Mendes Project for the improvement of fisheries sustainability was put in common, in which Opromar and OPP de Ondárroa's vessels collaborated and were coordinated by Azti researchers. The results of this action, presented in December last year in Marin, demonstrated based on proven scientific data the unfeasibility of changing the minimum size of the flake mesh that Brussels intended to impose.

The last example of success of this first day of the congress was that of the Fishing Accelerator, the first accelerator of companies in the world dedicated exclusively to the fishing sector. Juana Parada, manager of the Guardeses Longline Organization (Orpagu), and Xoán Martínez, director of Kaleido, a company that promoted this initiative, were in charge of discussing some of the innovative actions that were developed under their protection. Among them, the compaction of plastic waste as a solution to recycling in small spaces, the rejection of marine mammals by ultrasound and a system of retractable rigid sails to save fuel. The latter, a design similar to the wing of an airplane, was hired by Orpagu. These sails are already built and are undergoing the last tests on land to incorporate them into one of the organization's ships, later this year.

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