Category: Interviews

Alicia Estévez has a bachelor’s degree in biology from the Complutense University of Madrid (1982) and a PhD in Fisheries from Kagoshima University (Japan, 1996) and several post-doc fellowships (Stirling University, UK, 1997 with a EU Grant in Aid and Kyoto University, Japan, 1998-2000 with a scholarship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, JSPS). She works as a researcher at the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA), at the Centre of San Carlos de la Rápita that belongs to the Generalitat de Cataluña, where she has been working since 2000 in marine aquaculture, mainly in the larviculture of marine organisms (including fish, crustaceans and mollucs) and in fish nutrition and feeding.

Alicia has written over 130 scientific papers and has been involved in more than 40 national (JACUMAR, MICINN, CDTI) and international projects. Alicia is involved in MedAID project (Mediterranean Aquaculture Integrated Development), as the leader of WP2 -Improving Zootechnical Performance.Continue reading

We are interviewing Carlos Iturgaiz (Santurce, Vizcaya, Spain, 20th October 1965), a well-known Spanish People’s Party politician who, after a long career in the Basque Country, became an MEP in the European Parliament since 2004 and currently is Member of the Fisheries Committee.

Mr Iturgaiz has been responsible for coordinating and presenting the report “Towards a sustainable and competitive European aquaculture sector: current status and future challenges“, which was approved last 12 June 2018 by the Parliament as a non-legislative resolution by a large majority (605 votes out of a total of 673). In the H2020 project MedAID we are interested in this initiative, since one of the project’s work packages addresses issues related to the governance of the sector.

The newly approved report argues that the priority in the development of aquaculture in Europe is a sustainable food production, considering the need for different types of aquaculture products (marine and inland fish, molluscs, crustaceans and algae). The introduction of clear and homogeneous criteria for licensing across the EU, the implementation of common procedures to fight diseases, or the effective management of space are among the measures proposed to achieve this aim.Continue reading