IFOP signs an agreement with Ministry of Science
December 17th, 2021
On Monday, December 13th, in Puerto Montt, IFOP signed a collaboration agreement with Ministry of Sciences, in which main National Fisheries Research institution will contribute environmental information as a result of its activity and that are part of “Climatic Change Monitoring System to monitor fisheries and Aquaculture ”(www.ifop.cl) to Climatic Change Observatory promoted by Ministry of Sciences (https://www.minciencia.gob.cl/occ/).
Luis Parot Donoso, IFOP Executive Director explained “our research institute has a direct activity in fishing resources evaluation and environmental monitoring for more than 40 years along the entire Chilean coast, including Red Tide events monitoring and supporting Aquaculture sustainable development through numerical modeling. Due to the above mentioned, it is probably the institution that has the greatest amount of open sea bio-fishing and environmental data at national level, conducting almost 4000 oceanographic stations per year, sometimes even reaching depths of 1000m ”.
Recent emergency in Castro and its serious impact on territory and its inhabitants, has revealed our vulnerability to water scarcity, climate change, and urgent need to have anticipation mechanisms facing this type of phenomenon. It is in this challenge where Science Ministry, together with the scientific community, play a key role in making information available and providing the best research evidence, decision-making and adaptation and mitigation initiatives promotion ”, said Minister Couve .
As explained by the authority, signed agreements during this visit will make it possible to make available a large volume of data from more than 20 IFOP and IEB meteorological and biological monitoring stations which collect information on variables such as temperature, C02 and methane levels, vegetation levels, radiation, rainfall, wind direction and oceanographic data such as salinity and pH level. “A new contribution from research community to face climatic change impacts and are complementary to other excellence centers monitoring capacity and advances in space observation of New National Satellite System”, added the minister.
IFOP monitoring system gathers part of the information that is permanently worked on, with online meteorological stations in biologically sensitive points for fishing and aquaculture activity, while citizen meteorological network RedMeteo (https: // redmeteo .cl /) with 61 online stations and with climatic indicators derived from public data for Research by Navy Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOA) as well as Navy Metrological Service (SERVIMET) and Chilean Meteorological Directorate (DMC) . In turn, the IFOP System will also contribute information to the International Alert, Prediction and Observation System for Fisheries Resilient to climatic change in Humboldt Current great Marine ecosystem in which Peru and Ecuador participate coordinated by Defense Fund Environmental (EDF).
Dr. Letelier, IFOP’s Oceanography and Environment department head, pointed out that “this agreement is an example of a collaborative attitude that national and international public and private institutions must have to generate and disseminate quality scientific data and information in order to understand, face and adapt to Climatic Change in different sectors of society ”.