Around the world, small-scale fishers face similar, although different, issues. Nicole Franz, FAO Fisheries Policy Analyst, explains more about this at the first Regional Symposium on Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries for the Mediterranean and Black Sea a region recently held in Malta.

Read the interview here [in Maltese]

Community gardens and Community Supported Agriculture are now well established concepts, but in the Pays Marennes Oléron the association IODDE, a partner of local FLAG is reflecting on the potential to develop a form of community or shared aquaculture.

Cooperation factsheet - Community aquaculture

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St Julian’s, Malta – Over 170 participants from all fisheries actors of the Mediterranean and Black Sea have just met in St Julian’s, Malta, to share experiences and make steps towards a sustainable future for small-scale fisheries in the region. Discussions have laid the groundwork for a regional project fostering knowledge of all the components linked to small-scale fisheries and involving all interested stakeholders and have led to a collaboration agreement signed between fishers from the Northern and Southern Mediterranean shores. It is the first time ever that such a platform is created to enable cooperation between fishers from both sides of the Mediterranean.

The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) and FAO are organizing, in partnership with CIHEAM Bari, MedPAN, WWF and in collaboration with the Government of Malta ,the First Regional Symposium on Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, from 27 to 30 November 2013 in Malta.

For the first time in the region, national administrations, international organizations, fisheries scientists, NGOs, fishers communities, stakeholders and civil society will sit around the same table to discuss issues of common interest to ensure a sustainable future for the small-scale fisheries sector in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

The importance of small-scale fisheries for the whole area and the many challenges they are facing indicate that the time has come to launch an in-depth reflection on how to develop common strategies, synergies and cooperation to support their sustainable development. Building upon a participatory and bottom-up approach, the symposium will offer a unique opportunity to address recurring issues and to find common answers to secure future prospects for small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. This event will be a forum where all interested stakeholders will have a chance to bring their opinions, ideas and expertise to the fore.

At the end of the symposium, it is expected that participants will endorse common conclusions on how to maintain sustainable small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and identify crucial priorities for the design of a roadmap towards the development of small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea based on an ecosystem approach. An opportunity to meet actors of the small-scale fisheries world!

www.ssfsymposium.org

Community-Led or Community-Driven Local Development?

In recent years, the World Bank has invested significantly in evaluating its Community-Driven Development (CDD) programmes. This workshop was organised by the European Commission and FARNET in Brussels on November 8th 2013 with a view to exchanging on both approaches and building up on mutual benefits.

 

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