Spain launches its annual campaign to assess fishery resources in the Western Mediterranean

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, together with the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), has launched the Medits Pitiusas 2025 campaign, which will run until the 29th, to assess fishery resources in the western Mediterranean.

On board the Ministry’s oceanographic research vessel Miguel Oliver, the IEO team will carry out the necessary tasks to develop a biological study and identify demersal fish populations. They will also analyze the impact of fishing on deep-sea fishing grounds around the Pityusic Islands.

Thanks to these efforts, it will be possible to characterize local communities and habitats, examine the seafloor's geomorphology, collect oceanographic data from water masses, and study the trophic relationships between different species.

These studies are part of the National Basic Data Program for the fisheries sector (PNBD) and are presented within the working groups of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM). This campaign is co-financed by the European Union (EU) through the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF).

In April 2024, the Miguel Oliver ship already took part in the MEDITS_ES_2024 campaign for assessing fishery resources in the western Mediterranean Sea. The certificación company Bureau Veritas classified it as an ecological and silent vessel.