On February 18 MedCities organised an online seminar on sustainable blue food in Catalonia to disseminate the objectives and activities of the BLUEfasma project and discuss the results and the preliminary policy recommendations with more than 30 stakeholders from the fisheries, aquaculture and food sector. This event was organised within the framework of the Barcelona’s World Capital of Sustainable Food 2021.

The BLUEfasma project is an Interreg Med project seeking to apply the principles of the circular economy in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. It is composed by 14 European partners and promoted in Catalonia by MedCities and the Agency for Economic Development of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), with the support of the Gremi de Peixaters de Catalunya among other actors.

The aim of this seminar was to present the objectives and activities of the BLUEfasma project and to discuss the results and preliminary policy recommendations developed by project partners with the relevant actors in the fisheries, aquaculture and food sector in Catalonia.

In particular, the results of the BLUEfasma Living Lab activities implemented in Barcelona between February and May 2021 were presented. BLUEfasma Living Labs apply a methodology based on experiential learning, which involves the participants in the procedures. The knowledge generated by the project helps the participants improve their circularity, save money and add value to their products by implementing good practices. In Barcelona, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), clusters and maritime networks work on the distribution of fish from capture and aquaculture within the metropolitan area of Barcelona in order to increase their efficiency and competitiveness within the circular economy, blue development and eco-innovation.

During the seminar, the Catalan Government, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) and the city of Barcelona presented their strategies and main projects in relation to sustainable blue food and blue economy in general. Particularly interesting was the presentation of Barcelona’s blue economy strategy (see video), which has been recently launched (October 2021) and encompasses 12 economic sectors, including fishing.

The preliminary BLUEfasma policy recommendations on circular economy in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors were also presented, followed by a very interesting debate with participants representing both sectors.

You can watch the recording on the event here and download the presentations below.

Programme

Presentations: