Small-scale and coastal fisheries

The harvesting of goose barnacles (Pollicipes pollicipes) is an important economic activity in the Berlengas archipelago, located north of Lisbon around the Peniche peninsula.

Orkney is made up of 70 islands, 18 of which are inhabited. Orkney is both a rural and island community, and economy, in an extremely peripheral location off the North coast of Scotland, which gives rise to a unique mix of opportunities and challenges. The whole of the Orkney Islands’ are included in the FLAG area.

The Northern Kurzeme FLAG is located in northwest Latvia. The area is bordered by a 144 km stretch of the Baltic coast, from the parish of Jurkalne to the Cape of Kolka, and 12 km of the coastline around the Gulf of Riga. It includes Ventspils, one of the nine development centres of national significance in Latvia. There are two important fishing ports – Roja and Ventspils.

Fishing is an important and profitable activity in the FLAG area, especially along the main section of the Kymijoki River. Fish farming is also an important economic activity, with a strong tradition in the area. The existence of local centres of population, as well as the proximity of the Helsinki metropolitan region, guarantees a consistent demand for fish products.

The Central Finland FLAG is looking for solutions to grade, scale and gut cyprinid fish, mainly roach.

The North Sardinia FLAG wishes to cooperate with FLAGs concerned with new start-up models led by young people, fishermen’s relatives or young people leaving secondary schools who want to create self-employment opportunities.

With the support of Axis 4, a Spanish octopus fishery became the world’s first to receive Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, opening up new marketing opportunities to the local fleet.

This project by the Vianapesca Producer Organisation (PO) focused on adding value to local fisheries products through processing and a marketing campaign. Faced with the problem of low prices, the Vianapesca PO needed to find a way to enhance the value of low priced fish such as mackerel and sardine. It therefore approached the FLAG with the idea of designing a project on adding value.

To help preserve and promote the local fishing communities of North Devon, UK, Boat stories set sail with the North Devon FLAG in 2014 to make 10 short films telling the personal stories of those living and working with boats in the area. The stories, told by the skippers or crew, open the door to a world mostly hidden to even those who live on the coast, enticing the audience to come and have a closer look.

TELECAPECHE is an e-technology system that provides real-time data to local fisheries and aquaculture committees, helping them to monitor fish stocks and adopt suitable management measures. Launched with Axis 4 support, the system’s creators are now looking at some big developments using CLLD under the EMFF.