Research and Technology Institute for Food and Agriculture (IRTA)

Web site: www.irta.cat

Public Research Institution, Spain

IRTA is a research institute owned by the Government of Catalonia. IRTA's mission is to contribute to modernising, improving, boosting competitiveness, and fostering sustainable development in the sectors of agriculture, food, agro-forestry, aquaculture, and fishing. The IRTA research centre participating in this project is the Sant Carles de la Ràpita Centre, located at the Ebro Delta close to coastal embayment that constitute an active aquaculture production area. It is a strategic location for conducting research in aquaculture, and coastal and river ecosystems. The research in aquaculture is focused on reproduction, nutrition, larvae culture and pathology for new and established aquatic species of mainly marine organisms. Furthermore, environmental research is carried out in order to understand better the ecosystems and the processes that take place in the natural environment.