PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Marine litter adrift and Abandoned, Lost or Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG, or ghost fishing gear) has become one of the main risks for pelagic species as the Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta). Priority species in Annex II of the Habitat’s Directive, loggerhead sea turtles are an indicator species for the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive, exposing trends in risks as climate change, bycatch or marine litter (A-1 2008/56/EC, (MSFD). The Western and Central Mediterranean are a critical foraging and migration areas for three populations of the species but this region is now also becoming a bottleneck for their recovery. ALDFG adrift and marine turtles alike are highly mobile, and therefore management and prevention of the ALDFG risk requires basin-wide concerted effort. Over the last years, LIFE has facilitated the networking of relevant authorities, and turtle experts of research institutions, stranding networks and recovery centers. LIFE OASIS builds up on this, with a stakeholder engagement and marine stewardship initiative to address the tasks of ALDFG retrieving and the rescue of entangled turtles by fishers and navigators. LIFE OASIS focuses on the improvement of a traditional fishery operating in the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Tunisia and Malta, that currently is the cause of over 70% of sea turtle entanglement in ALDFG. LIFE OASIS will work with fisheries to develop and test a smart-fishing technology (anchored Fish Aggregating Device - aFAD) that will mitigate the risk of sea turtle bycatch, and will offer novel technology for opportunistic data collection by fishers for the monitoring of climate change, MPAs, fishing stocks, etc. By using the Mediterranean as a laboratory for the development and testing of this innovation, and by working with an international Advisory Board of experts, LIFE OASIS will contribute to international cooperation initiatives currently looking at aFADs for food security and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU) mitigation.