When the Residencia Estates team paid a visit to the Río Frio sturgeon farm we were very much taken with the ecological benefits of rearing these fish for caviar production rather than taking them from the wild.

Sturgeon is now an endangered species due to loss of habitat and over-exploitation of stocks, so any such as this are to be welcomed for their environmental importance as well as the economic impact they have on the region.

For this reason we are delighted to hear that Marbella’s putative sea farm industry is to be encouraged with grants worth €825,000 from the Junta de Andalucía regional government. Javier Salas, Delegate from the Junta’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, announced the funding on a visit to Cultivos Marinos de Andalucía, a company that is pioneering the industry from its Marbella Fishing Port base. They concentrate on cultivating mussels in Marbella waters using the ecologically sound ‘long line’ method, while elsewhere off Málaga province other companies farm sea bass and gilt-head bream in giant cages out to sea.

The waters off this part of the the Costa del Sol are said to be highly suitable for the cultivation of fish and shellfish due to their temperature, lack of pollutants and abundance of natural bi-valve seed. Combined with an extensive network of fishing ports and onshore infrastructure, Málaga province is well placed to rear mollusc and fish, with plans being put in place to increase the number of species reared. Frutos de Neptuno in Estepona is concentrating on zamburiñas—a variety of small scallop—while sea bream, red snapper, sole and even tuna are now all being farmed in tests.

Andalucía as a whole reared more than 8,000 tonnes of fish and molluscs in 2015, a figure the sector expects to triple by 2020. The Junta views aquiculture as an important supplement to the traditional fishing industry and a way to take pressure off natural stocks as well as safeguarding jobs and bringing economic benefits to the region.

Residencia Estates agrees that such initiatives are a welcome addition to Marbella’s fishing industry. Together with the sea bed in places such as Calahonda being declared marine reserves it shows that the Spanish authorities are taking the condition of the underwater environment seriously—a crucial factor in the long term sustainability of the fishing industry and health of the natural world.