Amaia Barredo: “The Blue Economy is a guarantee for Basque coastal development”

• Opening of World Maritime Week, with Eurofishing, at the BEC in Barakaldo
• “Our fishing and merchant marine sectors play a leading role in promoting economic development and boosting the value chain”
• Irantzu Allende, Deputy Minister of Energy Transition, participates in the opening ceremony
• Minister Barredo : “The blue economy of coastal areas, a tool for improving the quality of life of coastal and fishing communities and for their economic diversification"
• The mainland Basque Country has 246 kilometers of coastline

Biscay -Basque Country 2025 03 19

Mrs Amaia Barredo, Minister of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture, and Fisheries of the Basque Government, believes that “the Blue Economy is a guarantee for Basque coastal development.” This morning, along with Xabier Basañez, Irantzu Allende, Deputy Minister of Energy Transition, and Cristina Múgica, Territorial Director of Territorial Competitiveness and Foreign Promotion of Bizkaia, participated in the opening of World Maritime Week, which is taking place at the BEC in Barakaldo with its four specialized sections: Eurofishing, Sinaval, Future Port, and Marine Energy.

“Among the four major cross-cutting themes addressed by Eurofishing during this World Maritime Week, such as the Blue Economy and its role in Sustainable Development; the Decarbonization of the Maritime Industry; Digitalization and Competitiveness, the Fishing Sector, along with shipping companies and the Merchant Sector, are the key players in all of them,” stated Amaia Barredo.

According to Minister Mrs Amaia Barredo, “our fishing and merchant marine sectors, like those across the entire European Atlantic coast, are part of and play a prominent role in the Blue Economy, promoting economic development and driving the value chain that encompasses the entire extractive, transport, and leisure sectors.”

Services and Marketing

“These sectors also extend to the chain of related services and the auxiliary industry that supplies them, as well as the entire marketing, processing, and distribution chain for fish and seafood products in all their forms. Fortunately, our fleet is working to reduce CO2 emissions. Our companies and shipowners are making a great effort to achieve this,” Barredo emphasized.

According to Minister Barredo, "as we see and perceive daily in our ongoing institutional meetings, our Basque nautical sector, like that of the rest of Atlantic Europe, is part of the process of decarbonization and the abandonment of fossil fuels. To support and promote this process, we need support through a new European Fund created for this purpose or a reform of the current FEMPA (European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund)."