Spain, Italy and Tunisia assess the progress of the ECOSAFIMED project in Tunisia

The director of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Sonia Castañeda, as a representative of the Spanish delegation, as well as representatives of Italy and Tunisia, have attended in Gammarth (Tunisia) the IV meeting of the Management Committee of the ECOSAFIMED project of the European ENPI Mediterranean Basin Programme.
 
Representatives of all the project partners, as well as the Directorate-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, the National Contact Point of the European Commission in Tunisia and the National Agency for the Promotion of Research were present at this meeting.
 
With 8 months to go before the end of the project, the objective of this meeting was to evaluate the work carried out so far and define the next steps for the future. To this end, the partners focused on the analysis of the data collected during the six oceanographic surveys and the more than 50 days of fishing activities as the main activities carried out during the last months. In addition, they also took the opportunity to exchange opinions on the criteria to be applied for the evaluation of the impact caused by lost or entangled artisanal fishing materials on the benthic communities in the study areas.
 
Also, during the meeting of the Management Committee, the Tunisian and Italian partners shared their experience in the different information days held with artisanal fishermen and representatives of the fishing sector. These days took place in Ponza and Patti in Italy and in the ports of Kelibia, Tabarka and Bizerte in Tunisia with a total of 150 attendees. In May of this year, the Institute of Marine Sciences of the CSIC will organize information days with the same objective with the local fishing communities in Ciutadella, Mahón, Fornells, Alcudia and Cadaqués.
 
In addition, all partners made proposals on how to continue to engage the fishing community for the improvement of artisanal fishing practices.
 
Finally, the project partners agreed on the stages for the future, focusing on the development of common guidelines for the analysis of data collected during the campaigns, the development of guidelines for the sustainable management of artisanal fisheries and the organisation of outreach activities to transmit the knowledge gained between public institutions, fishermen and the general public on both sides of the Mediterranean basin. A technical publication and an informative video are also planned, as well as a conference at the end of 2015.
 
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.