From Spanish mussel farms to EU policymakers: following the data powering Europe's blue economy
What connects aquaculture students in Spanish estuaries to EU policymakers in Brussels? A continent-wide network monitoring ocean conditions in real time, shaping fisheries policy and driving sustainable investment in Europe's blue economy.
In partnership with the European Commission
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00:00These countless rafts in Galician estuaries are platforms for growing edible mollusks.
00:09For students at the IGAFA, one of Spain's leading high schools in this sector,
00:14these waters serve as their outdoor classroom,
00:17a place to build the knowledge and skills their chosen professions demand.
00:25These students are training for careers in aquaculture,
00:28part of what's known as Europe's blue economy,
00:31all the sea-based sectors working towards sustainable growth.
00:35It's supported by national and European policies,
00:38but its success depends on data, collected daily all along Europe's cost lines.
00:49Aquaculture is one of the key sectors of European coastal economies.
00:53It employs tens of thousands of people, mainly in Spain, France, Greece and Italy.
01:00The sector needs skilled specialists ready to work at sea, in laboratories and in business offices.
01:06It depends on how to grow and grow different types of marine animals for the food sector.
01:17It's a cycle that you can win well if you know how to work on that.
01:21The aquaculture sector has high potential.
01:25It produces sustainable, local and healthy protein.
01:28It eases pressure on wild fish stocks and reduces Europe's dependence on imported seafood.
01:34But growth remains constrained.
01:36Investors and future workers need clearer understanding of what lies ahead,
01:41both economically and environmentally.
01:44Jose Ventura, the Institute's director, identifies the challenge.
01:50There are many uncertainties.
01:52One is the situation of economic stability of the regions.
01:56When you produce an economic value that comes into a market,
01:59you don't know how the market will fluctuate.
02:01The other is the environmental uncertainties.
02:04We are in a constant situation of climate change that affects local productions.
02:09Especially some of these that depend very directly on natural environmental conditions.
02:14Take salinity.
02:16In these estuaries, salt ocean water mixes with fresh water from rivers.
02:21Tides and rainfall cause salinity to swing,
02:25sometimes to levels that threaten shellfish survival.
02:28Underwater sensors monitor water characteristics continuously
02:32through a network of automatic platforms operated by INTEKMAR,
02:37the Technological Institute for the Control of the Marine Environment of Galicia.
02:41The sensors require only occasional cleaning to remove algae.
02:45Otherwise, they work autonomously, run on solar and wind power.
02:50They transmit constant readings, temperature, salinity, pH, oxygen levels and more.
02:57The automated monitoring is only one of many data sources.
03:15Researchers also visit industrial aquaculture facilities to collect samples of water and shellfish to be analyzed in the lab.
03:23This detailed knowledge of coastal water conditions – physical, chemical, biological – is essential.
03:30Aquaculture producers depend on this public data to optimize their operations and guarantee seafood safety.
03:38Yet the information doesn't stop at INTEKMAR and other research institutes.
03:44It keeps flowing into vast international databases.
03:53These data from this small region are connected to the rest of European data to give a more general vision of the marine world.
04:03Vigo, Galicia's largest city, is a major hub of Europe's blue economy.
04:08Here sits CETMAR, the institution that channels up-to-date information into regional and EU decision-making.
04:16Rosa Chapela runs the Institute.
04:18We are providing data about the space marine management, the activity in ports, the activity in the air extraction, the activity in the air extraction, the activity in the air extraction.
04:31The activity in the maritime areas are very important.
04:33Because if we want to make right policies for our sectors of the blue economy in Europe, we have to have the best data.
04:41Let's follow the data to Ispra, a lakeside town in Italy home to the European Commission's scientific hub, the Joint Research Centre.
04:50Jan Martinsson leads the Ocean and Water Unit at the JRC.
04:54His team analyzes data from Europe's fishery and aquaculture sectors, from Eurostat, EU agencies, member states and countless other sources.
05:03The findings appear each year in the EU blue economy report.
05:07A clear document that helps inform policy and guides billions in investments.
05:12One striking example is obviously the common fisheries policy.
05:17There, the Commission even has the obligation to take up the information that we produce.
05:23Apart from that, we have, for example, the zero pollution action plan for the European Union.
05:30Our information is taken up also to inform investment opportunities.
05:35So we really help to shape a strategy underpinning a sustainable blue economy.
05:43Facts, figures, analyses.
05:46All published continuously by JRC researchers who maintain the EU blue economy observatory.
05:53It's a treasure trove of charts, maps and current data freely available to anyone through the observatory's website.
06:03Stakeholders, be it policy makers, be it entrepreneurs, for example, can see what is going on in the blue economy sectors.
06:12If we have dashboards, for example, where you can even assemble your own data in a way, your own information in a meaningful and useful way for yourself to analyze what is going on in maritime transport, in fisheries, in energy sector, what is happening with respect to the energy transition that we are actually going through.
06:29Back in Vigo, the connection of the blue economy to our daily lives is clearer than ever.
06:36The port was long seen as a barrier separating the city from the sea.
06:41Now, it's transformed by a so-called blue path.
06:46A new walkway that opens the port areas to citizens and tourists.
06:51Industrial history, marine wildlife, cultural heritage, all on display.
06:56The seven-kilometre path ends at a special destination.
07:15Soon, visitors will be able to descend into an underwater observatory submerged beneath the surface.
07:24It will be surrounded by artificial reefs teeming with marine life.
07:29The observatory will send an important message.
07:33Economic growth, jobs and innovation matter.
07:37Our seas are more than a resource to be developed and money to be made.
07:41The ocean is a living system that sustains us and that we must sustain in return.
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