The project “Moving towards the sustainability of the Spanish fishing sector” aims to train workers in the sector to provide them with knowledge, methodologies, techniques and good practices aimed at reducing the environmental impact of their activity on the marine environment.

The project “Moving towards the sustainability of the Spanish fishing sector” aims to train workers in the sector to provide them with knowledge, methodologies, techniques and good practices aimed at reducing the environmental impact of their activity on the marine environment.

The aim is to raise the sector’s awareness of the necessary conservation of the good ecological status of the oceans and to strengthen its capacity for action in this regard, making it a firm ally of this objective.

The initiative will focus on training workers who practice the most representative fishing gear of the Spanish sector: trawling, longlining, purse seine and small gear (trap, live bait and other gear).

The project is structured in four stages:

– Stage I: Development of training and information material: “The commitment of the Spanish fishing sector to sustainable development”.

– Stage II: Face-to-face training on “Good practices for mitigating the impacts of fishing activity on marine ecosystems”.

– Stage III: Personalised advice and networking: “Practical application on board fishing vessels of measures to mitigate the impact of fishing activity on marine biodiversity”.

– Stage IV: Publication and dissemination of the results of the project.

The target audience of the project mainly includes workers from small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed workers working in the fisheries sector. Likewise, the recipients of the project are workers over 45 years of age, who represent 37% of the workers in the sector, workers located in areas subject to depopulation and rural areas, which correspond to 62% of the workers in the sector and women and immigrant workers in the fishing sector.

In addition, the recipients are framed in geographical areas defined as Highly Dependent Areas for Fisheries, identified as priority areas for action within the framework of the European Union’s structural fisheries policy.

The expected results are the training of 200 recipients, although the project will reach 5,290 workers; the detection and implementation of 100 more environmentally sustainable action protocols in the daily fishing activity of the Spanish fleet. Protocols for the release of protected specimens (seabirds, turtles, cetaceans by-catch); and the adhesion of 100 companies to the Commitment of the Spanish Fishing Sector to Sustainable Development.