Joan Simonet visits the facilities of Aquicultura Balear, a leading company in the production of sea bass and sea bream fry and which has the largest hatchery of these species in the whole State

The regional minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment, Joan Simonet, accompanied by the general director of Fisheries, Antoni M. Grau, and the manager of the Institute for Agri-Food and Fisheries Research and Training of the Balearic Islands (IRFAP), Georgina Brunet, today visited the facilities of Aquicultura Balear (Cooke Spain Group). This company, a leader in the production of sea bass and sea bream fry throughout the State, is the largest hatchery of these species fry in Spain and one of the most important in the whole of the Mediterranean.

During the tour of the facilities, the Aquicultura Balear team showed the councillor and his team the different parts of the facilities, which have the most innovative means of control and handling of fish to ensure high quality of fry and guarantee the best conditions of animal welfare. In this regard, Simonet has highlighted "the commitment of this entity to innovation, with a constant commitment to technical development, with the main objective of obtaining and being able to offer a quality product."

The company has stressed that its location in Palma is a strategic enclave for health, logistics and trade. However, they have explained that once the fry have passed the necessary breeding period, with a whole series of quality controls, the fish are transported in a special boat to be unloaded directly at marine farms in the open sea.

Project at IRFAP-LIMIA

Likewise, this visit was used to announce the public-private agreement between the Ministry and the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA), together with Aquicultura Balear and the company Feeding Systems, to carry out an innovative and sustainable project at the Marine Research and Aquaculture Laboratory of the IRFAP, in Port de Andratx. The project, with a budget of 830,000 euros, will transform the IRFAP-LIMIA facilities into a cutting-edge marine experimental farm, using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve its productivity and sustainability.

Conseller Simonet stressed that the aim of the project "is to obtain modern aquaculture that prioritises production, fish welfare and environmental sustainability". This initiative has been selected in the call for Public-Private Collaboration Projects of the State Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research 2021-2023 and is co-financed by the European Union.