The official launch of the ACUIREGAL project took place last Friday with an institutional visit to Octolarvae's headquarters.
Photo: CSIC / Octolarvae (Profand Group).
Last Friday, ACUIREGAL was officially launched. Initiated by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), through its Marine Research Institute (IIM), in collaboration with Octolarvae—part of the Profand Group—and the consulting firm Institute for Sustainable Business Growth (ICSEM), this public-private partnership aims to advance regenerative aquaculture in Galicia, Spain.
With a three-year renewable term, ACUIREGAL seeks to develop and implement a 'Regenerative Aquaculture Strategy' in Galicia to conserve marine biodiversity, restore overexploited stocks and develop environmental, social and technical monitoring tools, all based on scientific evidence and inter-institutional collaboration.
In its more scientific and restorative aspect, the initiative plans to create an open-access biobank to safeguard, characterize and genetically trace the stocks intended for restocking, guaranteeing their health and genetic diversity.
Furthermore, it also aims to develop protocols for the selection of species and habitats, release and monitoring strategies using mark-recapture and ecological impact analysis, and the definition of environmental, social and instrumental indicators to evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of the actions.
Nevertheless, beyond the scientific/restorative aspect, ACUIREGAL also has a clear commercial interest since one of its lines of work will be to develop techniques for the "ex situ" breeding and restocking of key species of great commercial interest with strong seasonal variability, such as octopus, spider crab, velvet crab and shrimp.
This public-private project marks a milestone in Spain as it is the first joint unit launched by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in partnership with private companies. Affiliated with the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the CSIC is the largest public research institution in Spain and one of the most renowned institutions in the European Research Area (ERA), and in this particular project, its participation is channelled through its Marine Research Institute.
Thus, the partnership is based on the extensive experience in the management and recovery of marine resources of the IIM and the Octolarvae company—dedicated to R&D&I of the larval cultivation of species of fishing interest—, as well as on the experience in the integration of sustainability of the SME of consulting and innovation ICSEM, as well as on the integration of specialized infrastructures and advanced scientific tools.
In the specific case of Octolarvae, the subsidiary of the Profand Group, which, among its projects, includes, for example, one dedicated to the development of organic and sustainable octopus farming, provides ACUIREGAL with both its infrastructure and the accumulated experience in larval production and marine restocking.
Committed to research, through its sustainability strategy 'Profand 4 Future', Octolarvae's parent company promotes, among other initiatives, practices for the conservation and regeneration of ecosystems and the development of the communities where it is present.
With that vocation, and even though the Profand Group does not fish in the Galician estuaries, the multinational in the seafood sector has already been contributing to its home region by repopulating different marine species in collaboration with the fishermen's guilds through releases of species such as squid, octopus, lobster, spider crab, shrimp or cuttlefish.
Coordinated by Jorge Hernández Urcera and Ángel F. González González of the IIM, with Álvaro Roura Labiaga as the scientific lead for Octolarvae and Yolanda Molares Montero as the lead representative for ICSEM, the scientific project is divided into four strategic modules: cultivation and restocking technologies, the ACUIREGAL biobank; design and monitoring of restocking projects; and impact indicators.
Although it lacks its own legal personality, the joint research unit has established its headquarters at the Marine Research Institute. However, the official launch last Friday took place with an institutional visit to Octolarvae's headquarters in Moaña, Pontevedra province, Galicia.
The visit was attended by the Vice President of Organization and Institutional Relations of the CSIC, Carlos Closa; the Director of the Galician Innovation Agency, Carmen Cotelo; the CSIC Delegate in Galicia, Carmen González Sotelo; the General Director of Profand, Moisés Rodríguez; and the Technical Director of Octolarvae, Álvaro Roura, as well as Jorge Hernández Urcera and Ángel F. González from the research team.
Partly funded by the Galician Innovation Agency (GAIN) through the '2025 Call for Aid from the Joint Research Units Program', ACUIREGAL has a budget of EUR 2 million, of which, through GAIN, it receives EUR 800,000 in aid from the Xunta de Galicia through European funds from the Galicia ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) 2021-2027 program.
The project will be permanently launched tomorrow, Tuesday, May 26, when the research team holds its first meeting at the Marine Research Institute in Vigo, Pontevedra, Galicia.