The Superior Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) is one of the 21 partners of the European project ClimeFish, which aims to predict and to provide policy guidance given the impact of climate change on marine and inland species of commercial interest.
The project, which has just begun, has been joined by universities, public research organizations and small and medium sized enterprises in Europe, Canada, Chile and Vietnam, under the coordination of the University of Tromso (Norway).
ClimeFish project will run until 2020 and is funded by the European Commission with EUR 5 million.
For Spain, CSIC participation is through two research groups of the Institute of Marine Research (IIM, Vigo): Organic Geochemistry (LGO), which takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of marine ecosystems, and Ecophysiology Bivalves (EsMaBa ), engaged in the study of eco-physiology and bivalve mollusk farming. The Technological Centre of the Sea (CETMAR) also participates in it.
“Climate change is a fact that is currently affecting the sustainable development of aquaculture and fisheries worldwide and will continue to affect it in the near future. The world population is growing and the demand for food is increasing, so it is necessary to make an effort to predict how climate change will affect the capture and production of these resources and develop plans to adapt to the new situation that will make it possible to adopt decisions to mitigate its effects or take advantage of it,” explains X Anton A. Salgado, principal investigator of the project at the CSIC.
In this context, the overall objective of the project is, in the first place, to predict how climate change is going to affect food production from fisheries and aquaculture, both of inland water species and maritime ones, in the next 50 years. It will focus on 25 species that are relevant for European fisheries and aquaculture, among which the mussel stands out as it offers special importance for aquaculture in Galicia.
Secondly, and based on that information, strategic plans that are useful for businesses in the decision making will be developed given the predictable scenarios.
CSIC researchers’ work will focus primarily on the study of the evidence and impacts of climate change on mussel catch.
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