This bilateral initiative is inside the approval of the BESTBROOD project within the European framework BlueBio. We as CCMAR team are very interested in collaborating with the consortium of the BESTBROOD project since our research is implicated in the improvement of broodstocks of several species with high commercial importance, contemplated in BESTBROOD project.
Europe needs to raise its aquaculture production, which represents nowadays 18.8 % of the total world production. The control of reproduction and the ecological knowledge of one species are crucial aspects of fish domestication and the formation of a sustainable aquaculture industry. The marine fish aquaculture industry in Europe is dominated in the north by Atlantic salmon (S. salar) and in the south by gilthead seabream (S. aurata) and European seabass (D. labrax). For emerging aquaculture species, challenges in successfully breeding and in high quality gametes can affect the supply of eggs and achieve economic viability. 
This proposal is focused on Spotted wolffish, a valuable species in northern Europe, which is commercially produced on a small scale with future expansion dependent on tackling the remain bottlenecks related with broodstock management. This includes: short sperm supply, lack of gametes synchronization, inability to create the best conditions for rearing broodstocks, poor control over spawning and lack of tools to select breeders. Therefore, the main aim of this bilateral initiative will be to improve the sperm handling, contributing with welfare reducing the pressure in wild breeders. For this purpose, this bilateral initiative will include two study trips of three-week trial and one-week trial to be held in Jan 2021 and 2022, respectively. The expected results will be to establish sperm quality indicators in Spotted wolffish. Moreover, this proposal will disseminate the results and reinforce future collaborations with Norway as both teams have similar objectives and synergic skills.