2015 www.fishinmed.eu SMALL-SCALE . FISHERIES . MULTIFUNCTIONALITY . BEST PRACTICES IN THE . MEDDITERRANEAN . BASIN . 1 SMALL SCALE FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY 1 DATABASE SMALL SCALE FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY BEST-PRACTICES FISHINMED Mediterranean Network of sustainable small-scale fishing communities European Union ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme 2007 – 2013 Project funded under the first call for proposals Priority 1. Promotion of socio-economic development and enhancement of territories Measure 1.2. Strengthening economic clusters creating synergies among potentials of the Mediterranean Sea Basin countries SMALL SCALE FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY 2 BEST - PRACTICES INDEX BACKGROUND 3 INTRODUCTION 6 MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY SURVEY: COUNTRY EXPERIENCES 8 EUROPE 24 - ITALY 11 EUROPE 25 - ITALY 16 EUROPE 26 - ITALY 20 EUROPE 27 - ITALY 24 EUROPE 28 – ITALY 28 EUROPE 29 – ITALY 32 ASIA 11 - LEBANON 36 ASIA 12 - LEBANON 40 ASIA 13 - LEBANON 44 ASIA 14 - LEBANON 48 ASIA 15 - LEBANON 52 ASIA 16 - LEBANON 56 ASIA 17 - LEBANON 60 ASIA 18 - LEBANON 64 ASIA 19 - LEBANON 68 ASIA 20 - LEBANON 72 ASIA 21 - LEBANON 76 ASIA 22 - LEBANON 80 ASIA 23 - LEBANON 84 ASIA 24 - LEBANON 88 ASIA 25 - LEBANON 92 ASIA 26 - LEBANON 96 ASIA 27 - LEBANON 100 AFRICA 4 - TUNISIA 104 AFRICA 5 - TUNISIA 108 AFRICA 6 - TUNISIA 112 AFRICA 7 - TUNISIA 116 1 SMALL SCALE FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY 1 DATABASE AFRICA 8 - TUNISIA SMALL SCALE120 FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY EUROPE 30 - GREECE 124 BEST-PRACTICES EUROPE 31 - GREECE 128 EUROPE 32 - GREECE 133 AFRICA 9 - ALGERIA 137 AFRICA 10 - ALGERIA 141 EUROPE 33 - CYPRUS 146 AFRICA 11 - MOROCCO 150 EUROPE 34 - FRANCE 154 ASIA (EUROPE) 28 - TURKEY 159 ASIA (EUROPE) 29 - TURKEY 163 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 168 SMALL SCALE FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY 2 BEST-PRACTICES SMALL SCALE FISHERIES BACKGROUND MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY BEST-PRACTICES The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lebanon, in the framework of the project FishinMed “Mediterranean Network of sustainable small – scale fishing community” financed by the European Union through the ENPI CBCMED programme, engaged me with the assignment of executing a survey aiming at collecting international experiences of diversification of activities within the fisheries sector. This engagement follows similar activities carried out in some projects that are recently tackling the development potentialities of the small-scale fisheries (SSF) in the Mediterranean basin (e.g. Ready Med Fish Project, Fish in Med Project and FARNET). Based on that, I tried to better specify the objectives of this study trying to avoid duplication and fruitless efforts. Consequently, the objectives of this study are as follows: ñ To ameliorate living conditions of Mediterranean artisanal fishers by providing sets of information on experiences carried out by operators in different Countries. Consumers, tourists and other categories having relations with fishing activities will also benefit from fishing operators aware of their capabilities to provide valuable services (general objective). ñ More in specific, the intention of this work is to highlight the inner – I would say innate – capabilities of the SSF to play outside the boundaries of the activities at sea. We should recognise the historical predisposition of SSF to act in the field of primary production but also in the one of service-providing to grab all the potentialities of this sector. ñ To highlight the rootedness of SSF to their territories and their ability to maintain an optimal balance between a healthy environment and sensible human footprints, creating – in some cases – unique landscapes and highly viable productions. ñ To make fishers aware of those activities of diversification already in force, to allow them to put them appropriately into practice. ñ To report experiences of multi-functionality implemented in Lebanon. Country’s fisheries sector is fully based on SSF mainly carried out by small wooden vessels performing their activities in shallow waters. The legislation regulating fishing activities is outdated but no mention of any regulation is SMALL SCALE FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY 3 BEST-PRACTICES given in the field of multi-functionality. Nevertheless, manySMALL experiences SCALE FISHERIES of different nature have been identified and reported. MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY BEST-PRACTICES ñ To report experiences that may be easily duplicated – fully or partially – in disadvantaged areas and/or in the Southern shores of the Mediterranean with or without the financial or logistic support of external institution. On the other hand, speculations and in-depth analyses on the most important terminology in use in this report, namely the terms “small-scale fisheries”, “artisanal fisheries”, “multi-functionality” and “diversification” are left to other fora. I have tried to highlight the role of single or groups of fishermen that, also without the intervention of institutions, such as cooperatives, NGOs or governmental bodies, are carrying out actions of diversification of primary production activities (e.g. new fishing techniques and gear), diversification of activities within the fish value chain, multi-activity (i.e. traditional fishing and integrative activities, such as fishing tourism or restaurants and catering), diversification of the fisheries area into sectors not directly related to fishing, such as environmental, research, social services, renewable energies or other emerging sectors. For this purpose, field visits in ports and coastal areas were implemented in Lebanon, Italy and Turkey. Exchange of information via email and telephone contacts occurred with project partners, governmental officers, fishers and researchers in Mediterranean Countries. In Lebanon, field surveys were carried out predominantly in the northern and central sector of the Country. SMALL SCALE FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY 4 BEST-PRACTICES SMALL SCALE FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY BEST-PRACTICES Lebanon Figure 1. Survey area is highlighted in green in the globe (left) and a more detailed map of Figure (right). Inputs consist of pictures, stories and information collected directly, through the support of Mediterranean partners or from sources available on the web. This report consists of an introduction and 38 complete sheets describing practices on multi-functionality in the Mediterranean. Also with the support of the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (MAI-B), the outputs of this study will represent a tailored tool to enforce South-South cooperation and strengthen the already existing bilateral or/and multilateral relationships to exchange best practices and expertise, in order to capitalize and to share what has already been successfully done in the Mediterranean region. SMALL SCALE FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY 5 BEST-PRACTICES SMALL SCALE FISHERIES INTRODUCTION MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY BEST-PRACTICES The Mediterranean is bordered by 23 countries (including Gibraltar and the Palestinian Territories). There are 69 rivers that flow into the Mediterranean, 46% of which are sedimentary and include important sensitive ecosystems such as beaches, dunes, reefs, lagoons, wetlands, estuaries or deltas (UNEP/MAP-Plan Bleu, 2009). In 2008, the total population of the Mediterranean countries was 464 million, with four countries accounting for 60% of this total: Egypt, Turkey, France and Italy. In the same year, the population of the coastal regions was approximately 157.3 million, i.e. 34% of the total national population of the Mediterranean countries. Italy, Egypt, Spain and Turkey account for 62% of this total. In the Mediterranean, SSF involve a great number of fishing techniques as more than 50 types of fishing gears are used and include all the metiers that are not typically industrial, such as trawl nets, large seines for large and small pelagic, large longliners and hydraulic dredges for shellfish. The most common fishing gears used in the Mediterranean SSF remain static nets, particularly trammel nets and gillnets. Small scale fishers are important carrier of local knowledge and good practices for co-management and they can have a low environmental impact. Multi-functionality is to be considered an integrative activity that is intended to valorise knowledge and good practices and in no case as a replacement of the main fishery activities. Further to that, side activities may be considered as a pillar of the SSF that in many cases needs to be updated or revamped. Communities of fishers have existed throughout the Mediterranean basin since time immemorial. There is abundant mention of this phenomenon of civilization in historic, geographic and ethnographic literature. Some also speak of “indigenous fisheries” or “sedentary fisheries”, designating groups firmly linked to what can truly be termed “fishing grounds”. In addition to providing domestic housing for families, such areas also include technical zones for the protection and landing of vessels, the construction and repair of boats, the storing of nets, their maintenance and repair, and the sale, storage and packaging of the catch. Collecting fish from the nets, landing of the boat, packaging of the fish, and repair and maintenance of the gear are all undertaken by an informal group of children and elderly people who are paid SMALL SCALE FISHERIES MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY 6 BEST-PRACTICES in kind1. To go back in time, as reported in the first sheet of the presentSMALL report, SCALE in FISHERIESthe MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY first centuries CE, the Latin word to identify small-scale fishers