Galicia gears up for marketing push

Professional Fishing Meeting 2010 concluded on Wednesday with Rosa Quintana, Galicia’s minister of the sea, urging the region’s seafood professionals to control the traceability of their products and devise new marketing platforms to increase economic opportunities.

Speaking to fishermen, processors, traders, hoteliers and administrators during the two-day event in Santiago, Spain, Quintana stressed the importance of traceability and labeling to identify product history, origin and production method as a means of increasing Galicia’s competitiveness.

The meeting focused on “comprehensiveness, integration, unity and dialogue” and analyzed the state of seafood marketing in Galicia to address future challenges.

“It is necessary to overcome issues such as foreign competition [and] undocumented fishing and illegal sales channels, along with dominating issues such as traceability, the balance between supply and demand and food security. We are the best fresh fish and seafood region with an enviable marine environment,” said Quintana, emphasizing the need for self-governing, responsible fishing with the goal of becoming “the best, most professional marketers.”

“The next steps,” she added, “will be the drafting of suitable legislation” requiring the regional government to support seafood marketing initiatives with an increased budget of EUR 42.4 million (USD 53.3 million).

Committing to close collaboration with Quintana, María Jesús Martínez, manager of the Galician Institute for Consumer Affairs, emphasized the need for market control in order “to keep track of products and ensure a transparent and secure market.”

Martinez stressed the importance of organizing training workshops and distributing information to raise awareness of the consequences of poaching, which “not only affect the sector but jeopardizes the health of the consumer.”

Continuing the marketing push in Andalucía, Spain, Office Pescaplus for the Promotion and Dynamism of Technology Innovation Projects opened on Thursday to advise and support companies in fisheries and aquaculture research, development and innovation.

Located in Puerto Real, Cadiz, the office, opened by Ignacio Gandarias, Spain’s secretary general of the sea, will also provide information on sources of finance, taxation and improving business competitiveness using the European Union’s Support Fund for the Diversification of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

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