SEPI Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales

• The campaign against the tiger mosquito starts in Ibiza in collaboration with the Mosquito Alert project, an application which makes possible sending a warning and a photograph of the animal to experts on this field

After the Tiger mosquito was detected in Ibiza in 2014, the island’s local authorities sought technical help for trying to reduce the presence of this invasive species. Thus, last year a training symposium took place for the environmental technicians from the different islands and municipalities of the Balearic Islands, and a monitoring network was setup on the islands of Ibiza and Formentera, with 45 traps.

Furthermore, a visit was organized to the Biological Plant which Grupo TRAGSA has in Caudete de las Fuentes (Valencia) for showing the TIE’s potential (Sterile Insect Technique).

In turn, this year a collaboration agreement has been signed, as a result of which the campaign is financed by the municipalities, while the Consell coordinates it, and Grupo TRAGSA provides its technical aid and implements the fieldwork.

Training meetings on the tiger mosquito

The tiger mosquito is an invasive species, and its presence has a large repercussion at the health, tourist, and economic levels.

The campaign started this year seeks to collaborate with the Mosquito Alert project, a citizen platform which aims to make citizens to participate through a free app which allows sending photos, so that these can be validated by scientists who are expert on this issue, and generating a map with the real distribution of the tiger mosquito on the island.

The remaining measures to be implemented are a population follow-up (a network of 150-200 oviposition traps), the use of larvicides on pubic breeding sites, and customized advising for those affected, punctual adulticide treatments for especially significant points, and an awareness-raising campaign which includes providing advice on the field, training meetings, and warning answers.

TRAGSA and Grupo SEPI

Grupo TRAGSA belongs to Grupo SEPI a corporate holding which includes a total of 16 state-owned companies in which it has direct, majority shareholding participations, with a workforce of around 73,000 professionals in 2014; the Spanish state-owned television and radio corporation, Corporación Radiotelevisión Española, which is attached to SEPI, and one public foundation. Equally, SEPI has direct minority shareholdings in a further ten companies, and indirect shareholdings in more than one hundred companies.