ADEJE (TENERIFE), July 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Scientists related to the marine world consider that the sea will be key in guaranteeing world food security and that protection of the natural environment must be combined with “sustainable” economic activity if a real impact is to be generated.
The marine biologist and executive director of Fundación MERI (Melimoyu Ecosystem Research Institute), Sonia Español-Jiménez, believes that the sea can be key in guaranteeing world food security “if it is done well” and “the oceans are once again given role it has” in the natural ecosystem.
Español-Jiménez stressed that it is necessary to “reconcile the two worlds” that represent the protection of marine ecosystems and the economic activity that takes place in them. This was expressed at a round table during the fifth Meeting of the Seas, which is held until July 19 in Tenerife, organized by Vocento and sponsored by the Cabildo de Tenerife.
The director of the ocean team of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Minna Epps, also expressed herself in this direction, who put on the table that the blue economy is “the fastest growing” and, therefore, it is essential to “ensure that it is sustainable”.
“You have to think about economic sustainability, not just protection. We must work together,” he remarked, referring to the economic sectors and public institutions that are trying to take a step forward in managing the sea. “We must protect together, plan together and learn together,” she said.
In this regard, the marketing director of Makro Spain, Chema León, also spoke, who said that the future lies in aquaculture and specifically for quality.
Thus, he came to indicate that at a certain point “there will be no other fish” on the consumer’s table than that of aquaculture and that, for this reason, it is necessary to begin to value it. “It’s a wonderful product and we’ll get our peers to breathe,” he maintained.
The Cabildo de Tenerife, for its part, through Agustín Espinosa, a technician from the island’s livestock and fishing service, highlighted that one of its priorities is to encourage the consumption of local products due to its double positive aspect: “reducing the carbon footprint” and contribute to “local economies”.
Another of the elements that the Cabildo focuses on is to diversify the consumption of species so that the pressure does not focus so much on some, such as tuna. Therefore, it advocates valuing species such as the salema or the striped burrito.
Aquanaria’s commercial and marketing director, Pedro Sánchez, stressed that advocating for quality means treating animals better and producing the least possible impact.
In fact, he explained that his environmental monitoring plan certifies that the fact that they operate in open water means that “the impact is minimal.”
Now “it seems logical” that treating the animals well affects the quality of the product and its taste, but this “was not applied before.” “We are clear that getting volume is one thing and quality is another,” she concluded.
MARINE WIND TURBINES, PENDING ANALYSIS OF THEIR IMPACT
The MERI Foundation scientist also explained that offshore wind turbines still need to be fully understood about their impact on the ecosystem, although she said she understands that they do cause noise damage.
So that citizens understand what we sometimes turn the sea into with our activities, Español-Jiménez said that it is “like being in a disco for us” but the size “of a radius of 1,000 kilometers”, which makes communication difficult for some species of animals and their activity of capturing food.
The scientist concluded that the world is in a situation of “no return” when it comes to protecting the environment and especially the marine environment. “If we continue like this, if we don’t change our way of production, 1.5 out of every 4 species will go extinct in the coming decades. We have to get our act together because we’re going very late,” she stated.
