Spain, Italy and Tunisia have held at the National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies of Tunisia the second Management Committee of the ECOSAFIMED project of the European ENPI Mediterranean Basin Programme, in which progress has been made in the preparation of oceanographic campaigns to assess the possible impacts of artisanal fishing on benthic communities. for which areas have been selected in which sweep fishing does not work on a regular basis.
The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA), coordinates this cross-border initiative in which the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Higher Council for Scientific Research ICM-CSIC, the National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies of Tunisia and the University of Genoa participate.
Since June 10, the participating partners have been working on the objectives of the project “Conservation of ecosystems and sustainable artisanal fisheries in the Mediterranean Basin (ECOSAFIMED)”, with the aim of providing and promoting practical recommendations to guarantee the sustainability of artisanal fisheries in the Mediterranean.
During the meeting, the actions undertaken since the beginning of the project in January 2014 were evaluated and those that are planned for the coming months were planned. Among these actions, the oceanographic campaigns that the project partners will carry out during the months of July and August stand out.
In the case of Spain, the study areas are located in the Balearic Islands and Catalonia; in Italy, in Lazio and Sicily, while in Tunisia, the areas of La Galite and the Esquequis Bank near the regions of Nabeul, Ariana and Jendouba will be studied. In these oceanographic campaigns, underwater robotics (ROV, Remoted Operated Vehicle) will be used to study seabed communities.
In order to know the relationship between the state of the community and the artisanal fishing effort, artisanal fisheries will also be evaluated for each study area. In each of these areas, a minimum of 2 metiers have been defined. Metier is understood as the combination of the use of a fishing gear for the capture of a species in a given area.
During the meeting, the roadmap for the next seminars and meetings with sectors involved in the project was also drawn, including artisanal fishing associations and local communities.
Likewise, the actions undertaken during this first semester have been reviewed. In this initial stage, among other actions, the possibility of promoting marine stewardship actions as a conservation strategy to promote the participation of civil society, the fishing sector and administrations in the planning, management and conservation of the marine ecosystems of the Mediterranean basin has been evaluated and studied.
The meeting of the Management Committee held in Tunis was attended by the Directorate-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, the Tunisian Association for the Development of Artisanal Fisheries (ATDEPA) and the Tunisian Union for Agriculture and Fisheries, all of which support and collaborate in the project
ECOSAFIMED AND ENPI CBC MED PROGRAM
With an endowment of 1.9 million euros, the ECOSAFIMED project promotes responsible fishing practices and communication between research and the artisanal fishing sector in order to contribute to the conservation of marine ecosystems.
The final objective of the project is the development of management recommendations for artisanal fisheries studied in the Mediterranean, so that they are compatible with a good state of conservation of marine habitats.
Likewise, the project plans to detect areas of value to be proposed as Marine Protected Areas under European directives and/or the Barcelona Convention. ECOSAFIMED is one of the 39 projects that were beneficiaries of the 1,095 submitted to the second call of the ENPI CBC MED Program 2007-2013.
The European ENPI Mediterranean Basin programme is a cross-border cooperation initiative that is part of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Policy instrument (EIPV-ENPI). The aim of the programme is to promote cooperation between the regions on both shores of the Mediterranean in order to face common challenges and to make the most of their endogenous potential.
A total of 14 countries are beneficiaries of the programme, representing 76 territories and nearly 110 million inhabitants: Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Palestinian Authority, Portugal, Spain, Syria and Tunisia.
The programme has a budget of 200 million, from the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Policy Instrument and the contribution to each project amounts to a maximum of 90% of the total cost.
The funded projects deal with various topics related to the promotion of socioeconomic and territorial development, through support for innovation, and research; sustainable development and energy efficiency throughout the Mediterranean basin; the improvement of the conditions and modalities of movement of people, goods and capital or the promotion of dialogue between cultures and governance.
Information on the ECOSAFIMED project and the ENPI CBC MED Programme can be found on the websites of ENPI CBC MED and the EuropeAid Development and Cooperation Office.
This publication has been produced with the financial support of the European Union within the framework of the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Basin Programme. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the Biodiversity Foundation and may not be considered under any circumstances to reflect the position of the European Union or the management structures of the Programme.
