Adding value to fisheries

A four-year project to bring participative local development to the Kerkennah islands has proved that CLLD can be a valuable tool beyond the shores of Europe. Funded by ENPARD under the EU’s neighbourhood policy, the project, known as DEVLOK, has invested around €1.2M in these Tunisian fishing communities, diversifying the local economy and creating 47 new companies and 89 jobs.

Cooperation activities are not mandatory in the Polish EMFF programme, but FLAGs are encouraged to undertake them. Cooperation is considered as a good way to facilitate learning by FLAGs and to contribute to achieving their strategic objectives, which strongly prioritise job creation, both within and outside the fisheries sector. In the previous period many Polish FLAGs already proved eager to learn from FLAGs in other Member States and to share their experience with them.

In the Vigo-A Guarda FLAG area, shellfish gatherers are working with local wine producers and a forestry association to turn seaweed - once a nuisance to their activity - into a valuable and sustainable resource: quality compost.

The Carp Valley FLAG strategy has a clear focus on encouraging local entrepreneurship. The area, highly dependent on inland fisheries and aquaculture, uses its products as an engine for diversification, tourism promotion and awareness-raising about the assets of the territory.

Three Slovenian FLAGs are implementing a collaborative assessment of fisheries products to establish a quality system for fish products produced in Slovenia.

The Sotavento do Algarve FLAG supported investment to enable Culatra Island, Portugal’s most important location for aquaculture production, to transition to solar energy.

Kustaktionsgruppen i Österbotten (Pohjanmaan kalatalousryhmä) tuki hanketta, jossa paikalliset asukkaat ja maahanmuuttajat kehittivät alikäytettyihin kalalajeihin perustuvia innovatiivisia ruokaohjeita. Sen tuloksena vähempiarvoisina pidettyjen kalojen kulutus kasvoi, maahanmuuttajien kotoutuminen edistyi ja kulttuurinen vuorovaikutus heidän kanssaan lisääntyi.

The Mondego Mar FLAG financed a project to bring some unused saltpans back into use to produce an aquaculture product which is highly coveted by restaurateurs: the sea urchin, also known as ‘Portuguese caviar’.

This cooperation project aimed to apply a technology based on the “blockchain” principle to fisheries. By using this trustworthy shared recording system, the three FLAGs implemented a traceability system which provides complete and accurate information to consumers of artisanal fishing products.

Two FLAGs in Poland have joined efforts to implement a project promoting the fishing potential of two different regions. By focusing on their areas of greatest expertise, the FLAGs made a greater impact in their respective localities.