The Maritime-Marine Cluster of Andalusia in collaboration with the Junta de Andalucía, Malaga and Malagaport Port Authority celebrated European Maritime Day yesterday 2019 in the Farola de Málaga. The event was attended by the managing director of the Marinas del Mediterráneo Group, Manuel Raigón, as well as the president of the Maritime-Marine Cluster of Andalusia, Javier Noriega; the territorial delegate of Economy and Employment, Carmen Sanchez; the President of the Port Authority, Carlos Rubio; the Vice-President of the Parliament of Andalusia, Esperanza Oña, among others.
As indicated by the Cluster, the European Union's speech on the European Maritime Day makes clear the role of ports and their ecosystems, referring to ports as "the agents of change" that should be at the forefront of the transition to a sustainable economy based on the seas and oceans. And it is that the 90% of the EU's external trade takes place through its waters, representing the maritime sector around 5 millions of jobs, in addition to being one of the few sectors that were not affected in economic terms in the time of crisis in Spain.
Today this sector is established as a priority axis of the future for the creation of employment in Malaga and Andalusia. And it is that the data of all the subsectors that moves this sector speak for themselves: coastal tourism generates 1,5 millions of jobs, fishing generates near 400.000 Jobs, pleasure craft 25.000 Works, maritime equipment 14.500, maritime transport 8.000 and shipbuilding generates more than 5.000 jobs.
With ports as an essential axis of the Andalusian economy, it is important to analyse and support these innovation drivers for industrial development in different sectors, such as tourism or energy, and highlight the special importance of preserving the environment in the Alboran Sea, where the enormous existing biodiversity demands sustainable growth and extreme care for the marine environment.
The Maritime-Marine Cluster of Andalusia is composed of innovative companies with a high technological qualification from different subsectors linked to the sea, as fishing, aquaculture, shipbuilding, Shipping, recreational boating, maritime research, Training, ports and port activities, auxiliary and maritime extraction industries, maritime tourism, underwater archaeology and communication. The objective of the CMMA is the promotion and development of the Andalusian maritime sector, to achieve greater competitiveness of the entire sector.