Line of action:

Status:

Execution date:

General Objective:

To promote and encourage the protection and conservation of the fisheries and natural resources of the marine reserves of fishing interest in Spain and Natura 2000 Network areas within the scope of the PESCARES III project.

Specific objectives:

1. To improve the management of the marine reserves of the Island of Tabarca and the Balearic Islands, as well as the Natura 2000 Network spaces that they host, through governance work through the meeting and reciprocal training process between the users of the marine reserves.
2. To maintain and improve the state of comfort of the marine reserves of Cabo de Palos-Islas Hormigas, Cabo de Gata-Nijar and the Columbretes Islands, through the monitoring and control of the initiatives developed in previous phases of PESCARES.
3. Develop initiatives not initially contemplated, both sectoral and collective, in conjunction with the administrations, which promote collaborative work and guide management from the point of view of the sectors that operate in the Reserves.
4. To highlight the social benefit of Marine Reserves and Natura 2000 Network areas in the marine environment as an example of sustainable fishing and synergies between artisanal fishing, recreational diving and the scientific sector.

The PESCARES III project made it possible to highlight the social benefit of marine reserves and Natura 2000 Network spaces in the marine environment, initiating a dialogue, previously non-existent, between the fishing sector and the recreational diving sector, creating working groups to address the threats detected by the sectoral representatives. In the marine reserves in which PESCARES has already operated, the project has advanced and exportable models have been created – such as the collaboration agreement between Responsible Recreational Diving and Artisanal Fishing – to any reserve.

The project has carried out the updating of the database of the fishing (census of entities in the fishing sector and small gear vessels) and diving (census of diving clubs and schools) sectors operating in marine reserves. The rules of communication and dialogue between the different users of each reserve have been established and 34 working meetings have been held with at least two representatives per sector, in which improvements and opportunities have been identified, synergies have been established and conflicts resolved.

In order to disseminate and give value to marine reserves, audiovisual material has been generated. On the one hand, a documentary video has been made in which three marine reserves have participated, in addition to the General Secretariat of Fisheries and the GEAS (Special Group for Underwater Activities), which currently exceeds 50,000 views. On the other hand, six independent short productions have been generated for use on social networks and websites.

A communication platform has been created within the project website to disseminate news specific to marine reserves. In addition, the PESCARES website was updated, incorporating a summary of the initiatives of each marine reserve, the feasibility analysis of the fight against poaching in RMIP, the draft conclusions of the collective action, the different initiatives of the RMIP that are part of the scope of action of the project, as well as the manuals of the marine reserves of Isla de Tabarca and Levante de Mallorca – Cala Rajada and the photo gallery.

In relation to actions against poaching, 36 meetings were held in order to define and analyse the feasibility of joint actions between administrations, users and legal teams. As a result, a report has been prepared to support surveillance, which includes action protocols in the fight against poaching, and which have been published in the diving and artisanal fishing entities that participated in the project.

In addition, two training performances of two hours each were developed, presenting the Criteria for Responsible Recreational Diving (CBRR), with a total of 19 attendees.