South Marche FLAG

The FLAG is situated in the Southern part of the Marche region, bordering with the Abruzzo region at the mouth of the Tronto river. It is a discontinuous area of five municipalities (from north to south- Porto San Giorgio, Pedaso, Cupra Marittima, Grottammare and San Benedetto del Tronto). The FLAG wasactive under the previous programming period when it also included Civitanova Marche and Porto Recanati (now part of the Central Marche FLAG). The area´s main fishing ports are in San Benedetto del Tronto and Porto San Giorgio while Grottammare has a landing site. Small-scale fisheries are present with around 100 boats.

The coastline is characterised by a "comb" structure which is typical for the region: rivers, descending from the mountains have formed deep perpendicular crevices to the coast, at which point the valleys tend to widen, and have given rise to plain areas that are almost entirely urbanised. There are many economic activities in the area related to fisheries and fish processing. Seaside tourism, agriculture production and processing, and the textile sector, in particular footwear are other sectors in the area.

The fisheries sector in the FLAG area is in decline. Human capital is at risk (difficult generational change, loss of the sector’s attractiveness, loss of traditional know-how), and fish resources are decreasing (stock reduction, low added value). Moreover, the local ecosystem needs to be re-enforced and links need to be built between the environment, the coast, the landing areas, culture and traditions.