The Xunta strengthens research on mussel farming with the BATEAS project
- The Consellería do Mar, through the Marine Technology Centre–Cetmar Foundation, is developing this initiative aimed at analyzing changes in mussel production and providing useful tools to the sector.
The BATEAS initiative is part of the actions promoted by the Consellería do Mar to improve the knowledge base on the evolution of mussel farming in the Galician rías. The project’s main objective is to better understand the environmental conditions that influence the productivity of rafts, providing answers to the challenges identified by the sector in recent years, as well as to establish a communication channel between mussel farmers and the administration.
The project is led by the Consellería do Mar and co-financed by the European Union through the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF). It is complemented by other ongoing initiatives, such as the APROMEX project, led by the Marine Research Centre of Galicia (CIMA), focused on assessing the availability of mussel seed, and Capacitamex, aimed at knowledge transfer through workshops with producers, in which Cetmar also plays an active role.
Among the achievements of the BATEAS initiative is the implementation of a systematic environmental data collection system through a mussel raft in the Ría de Arousa equipped with sensors, which functions as a “sentinel raft.” The technological and technical development is carried out by the Marine Technology Centre–Cetmar Foundation in collaboration with the raft owners, who participate in the design of the solution. Monitoring equipment has been installed to enable real-time tracking of parameters such as water temperature and salinity at different depths, as well as meteorological data and the variation in the weight of mussel ropes. This information is complemented by other data collected periodically during maintenance visits, such as turbidity or fluorescence measurements.
Continuous monitoring of this infrastructure makes it possible to carry out a detailed follow-up of the evolution of environmental conditions in parallel with the growth of mussels on the ropes.
These data can be consulted immediately through the APROMEX project’s online resource portal: https://apromex.gal/recursos-apromex/
Another pillar of the work is the creation of a bidirectional communication channel to facilitate the exchange of information between the mussel sector and the administration. Through the network of contacts generated by the Capacitamex workshops, Cetmar maintains a constant dialogue with the sector, gathering first-hand information on the state of the farms and conveying producers’ needs and priorities to the administration. In this way, the Consellería do Mar promotes more agile, efficient, and data-driven management, contributing to the sustainability of the mussel sector and consolidating Galicia as a benchmark in mussel production.
