Rosa Quintana, the Galician Minister of the Sea, highlighted the importance of a new dual training program offered at the Vigo Atlantic Maritime-Fisheries Polytechnic Institute. The degree called Organization of Machinery Maintenance on Ships and Boats seeks to address the need for highly qualified fishermen operating the complex equipment on today’s seas and oceans.
Fishing has been Galicia’s most important and traditional economic activity for ages
The new educational program seeks to address the need to make job finding easier but also to attract the younger generation to the traditional profession.
The dual training will combine academic in-class sessions with practical hours on the board of different fishing companies which operate trawler and longline fishing ships in various corners of the Atlantic Ocean.
Minister Quintana remarked upon her visit to the Institute yesterday that this programme is a reflection of her government’s commitment to providing high-quality training for maritime professions. To that end, the budget set aside for this grew by 4% to reach 9.7 million euros this year.
Furthermore, Rosa Quintana explained that the Galician authorities also act as the voice of reason and advocate for the fishermen in front of the European Union.
In her opinion, in order to make the profession more attractive to younger people, it is necessary to continuously improve the living conditions on board of the ships, making them more comfortable and livable.
That could be made possible if the future European Maritime and Fisheries Fund takes into account these requests by the Galician Government when deciding on the procedure of granting subsidies to the sector.
The Vigo Atlantic Maritime-Fisheries Polytechnic Institute was founded in 1965 and has been under the direct supervision of the Galician Sea Ministry since 1982. It is considered one of the foremost maritime professional training institutions in Spain.
Source: TheMayor.EU
