A coastal management plan by local fishers and fish farmers

While the FLAG was designing its Local Development Strategy, one of the main problems identified by the local community was the lack of coordination in stock management of the nine different ports on the Emilia Romagna coastline. This was highlighted during the consultation process that the FLAG carried out with all the local stakeholders at the beginning of its activity. The FLAG decided to set up a working group, combining efforts from the fisheries and aquaculture sector and local experts, to develop a common management plan for the region. Nassarius mutabilis (sea snail), Sepia officinalis (cuttlefish) and Squilla mantis (mantis shrimp) are three local species covered by the management plan. The local fisheries and aquaculture sector decided to focus on them due to their regionwide presence, their important economic value and the need to protect them to guarantee healthy stocks.

Through a public call, the FLAG selected experts including a cooperative of marine biologists working on the development of fisheries and aquaculture technology innovation (M.A.R.E. Scarl); a national company specialising in mapping and database services for sustainable fisheries management (Kosmoambiente); and the Bologna University. The experts jointly created a socio-economic assessment, collecting and analysing information for guaranteeing accurate data about the status of these three fisheries and defining the optimal guidelines to be implemented by this management plan. During the whole drafting, review and validation process, fishers, fish farmers and owners of local vessels were actively involved. For that, the FLAG organised and ran 10 workshops, with 120 participants from the sector.

This bottom-up approach to participation and identifying relevant experts is new to the region and was managed by the FLAG. Representatives from the national Ministry of Food and Forestry Policies (MIPAAF) were present at the launch of the working group so they could learn more about the methodology. The MIPAAF is responsible for CLLD under the EMFF so there was interest in the methods potential implementation in other Italian regions. Such bottom-up approaches are also being used by the FLAG in tackling two of its other identified challenges: eutrophication and shellfish farming.