With small scale fishing constituting more than 80% of Black Sea and Mediterranean fishing fleets, a conference to examine the future of these regions takes place in Algiers next week, organised by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) and FAO’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Department.
The regional conference has been given the ‘Building a future for sustainable small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea’ title and is organised in partnership with the Government of Algeria, the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies – Mediterranean Agronomic institute of Bari (CIHEAM Bari), the Network of Marine Protected Area Managers in the Mediterranean (MedPAN), and WWF.
‘This regional conference builds upon a successful Regional Symposium on Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea that we organised in Malta in November 2013,’ said Abdellah Srour, executive secretary of GFCM.
‘That event was the first time we gathered together national administrations, non-governmental organisations, fisher communities, stakeholders and civil society around the same table to discuss how to best promote small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. The Malta event demonstrated to us the significant role small-scale fisheries can play in our region for alleviating poverty, ensuring food security and contributing to regional Blue Growth strategies.’
He said that since then, the GFCM has strengthened its own focus on small-scale fisheries, including the launch of a comprehensive data collection tool that provides for the annual submission of data on small-scale fisheries.
‘We believe this regional conference is timely, and that regional stakeholders are eager to work together to promote and strengthen small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.’
