Time is running out, is the clear and unanimous message from the Mediterranean Platform of Artisanal Fishers, with regard to the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
Mediterranean small-scale fishermen work towards a sustainable way of making gains while preserving resources, says the group. But despite their efforts, the European Commission is moving in the wrong direction, beginning with transferrable fishing quotas (privatisation of communal marine resources), a lack of involvement of stakeholders in management, and the commercial use of juvenile fish.
At a recent meeting organised by the European project MedPAN North that brought together fishers and managers of marine protected areas from six countries, artisanal fishermen from the Mediterranean chose to communicate with the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki through 140 characters on Twitter, complete with photos, sent from the Marine Reserve of Torre Guaceto.
Their message said: “FISHGREEN! We fish in a sustainable way!”
The artisanal fishermen would appreciate the opportunity to explore Mediterranean issues more fully with the Commissioner, beginning with ensuring the co-management of fishing activity in the Mediterranean through co-management committees per fishery and discussing the impact that the commercialisation of juvenile fish could have on fish stocks and the positive role of fisheries reserves.
Developing an alliance with marine protected areas has clearly demonstrated that sustainable forms of fishing do exist, are possible and productive. In protected areas the controlled management of fishing can increase catches by up to two times. Non-selective fishing methods, typical of some industrial fishing need to be discouraged as much as possible.
Mediterranean artisanal fishermen have four requests for the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP):
Support the multi-functionality and the diversity of the various occupations and fishing gears covered by Mediterranean artisanal fisheries;
Support the co-management (between fishermen, marine protected areas, researchers, society and decision makers) of artisanal fisheries in long-term action plans and open up a specific funding line for artisanal fishing;
Activate a concrete regulatory policy for recreational policy;
Foresee in the reform an alliance with Mediterranean marine protected areas in the management of fisheries for the conservation of biological and cultural diversity and for the protection of marine resources.
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