Sharing good practices for a better future together. This is the common thread of the second day of the cross-border Conference entitled “Promoting the application of S3 in the Adriatic-Ionian region”, organized as part of the SMART ADRIA BLUE GROWTH thematic project (Interreg IPA CBC Italy-Albania-Montenegro Programme).

In the first part of the morning, some significant and innovative case studies for the sector were presented: Jovana Tomanic of the Institute of Marine Biology of Montenegro, illustrated the monitoring carried out to detect the effects of the invasive presence of Blue Crab in the Adriatic Sea. Callinctes sapidus (blue crab) is an exotic alien species, which, from a threat to our ecosystem could become an important asset to fishing activities, both as food resource and for commercial purposes.

Later on, Gianluca Bleve, researcher of the ISPA-CNR and Danila Chiapperini, co-founder of ApuliaKundi, illustrated the two best practices implemented by Puglia on the sustainable use of macro and micro-algae. They highlighted the strategic importance of algae in the blue economy, pointing out its low environmental impact and countless areas of possible industrial exploitation, from the food field (novel-food), to pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agricultural fertilizers and biofuels.

The focus on innovation was instead entrusted to Angela Abrescia, who recounted the consolidated experience of Unioncamere Puglia in the provision of vouchers to strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises in the fishing and aquaculture sector.

At the end of the plenary presentations, the work continued in three distinct groups on a territorial basis, to identify, in the light of the in-depth analysis shared during the Conference, some policy recommendations useful for promoting and strengthening the future development of the blue economy.

Tomorrow, during the final day, the project partners will discuss and select the best proposals that will converge in the final Memorandum of Understanding of the Conference.