M. Pilar Vara del Río

Assistant Director-General for Scientific Research and Marine Reserves

She is responsible for fisheries research and marine reserves in Spain. Her management is the confirmation that science, sustainability and the fisheries sector must go hand in hand.

Graduate in Veterinary Medicinem, she worked in several national and international research centres. After that, she began her career in the General State Administration as a member of the National Veterinary Corps.

She has held various positions related to the management and planning of different livestock sectors until she reached the General Secretariat of Fisheries as head of the fisheries area in 2012, and since then she has coordinated fisheries research activities with various scientific bodies of reference in the marine field.

Since February 2015, she has been Deputy Director of Scientific Research and Marine Reserves and has been responsible for fisheries research, in particular the coordination of the national data programme for the fisheries sector, the coordination of research work to meet knowledge needs for application to fisheries management, and the preparation and participation in the European Union Councils of Ministers to establish TACs and quotas.

María Pilar Varas is also responsible for the management of fishing and oceanographic research vessels and for the cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, as well as the management, monitoring and dissemination of marine reserves of fishing interest.