AdriaMed Project

Scientific Cooperation to Support Responsible Fisheries in the Adriatic Sea – AdriaMed
(GCP/RER/010/ITA - Module I)

Albania, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia.

Italy through the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies (MIPAAF).

Since 2007, the Directorate-General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs of the European
Commission.

The Adriatic Sea is one of the largest areas of the Mediterranean with shared fisheries resources. Scientific information and knowledge about the Adriatic Sea, particularly about its shared resources, is often fragmented and much of it is only available locally.

The Project was designed to promote scientific cooperation among the Adriatic countries and to improve the management of fishing activities in compliance with the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

The main goals of the Project are to develop common basic knowledge and support regional fishery management through improved scientific coordination among the fishery institutions. One major challenge is to establish a permanent collaborating network among the fishery institutions of the Adriatic.

The main beneficiaries are the fishery policy makers and managers in the Adriatic countries and, to a large extent, the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM). Their capabilities will be enhanced by the availability of improved information and monitoring systems. Secondary beneficiaries include the national research institutes, fishers’ associations, industry organizations and fishers.

The Project strengthened the collaboration on fisheries research and management of shared demersal and small pelagic fisheries resources. The Project also implemented fisheries monitoring systems, and developed standardized methodologies applied to scientific research and harmonized data collection processes that have been used by the participating countries.

The Project has promoted scientific and technical cooperation in the Adriatic sub-region and established a basis for cooperative management on shared multi-species fisheries in the area through a series of actions and activities including:

• establishing regional monitoring and research programmes on the status of demersal and small pelagic resources and studies on socio-economic aspects, setting up sub-regional monitoring systems for the assessment of small pelagic stocks and joint bottom trawl surveys following common protocols prepared and agreed upon by all countries involved, and carrying out joint acoustic and biological sampling surveys covering three countries in the northern Adriatic region;

• improving the capacity of scientific institutions through training courses on demersal and small pelagic fishery resources, on socio-economic aspects of fisheries and on
  statistics and fisheries management. More than 170 nationals participated actively in this training program;

• establishing cooperative networks among the Adriatic scientific institutions, which have contributed inter alia to the critical review on main shared demersal stocks in the Adriatic Sea, the identification of nursery areas and bio-economic indicators;

• providing technical assistance to the countries on statistical, biological, environmental and socio-economic aspects to improve the multi-disciplinary approach to the fisheries sector. Based on this, the participating countries are implementing activities to assess the different facets of the fisheries. Support to the national statistical systems with standardized information has also been provided;

• disseminating more widely scientific information in the area by creating an on-line information centre on fisheries related information. AdriaMed is also an international partner of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA); and

• providing technical support to the subsidiary bodies of the GFCM and exchanging information and technical support with other FAO regional fisheries projects in the Mediterranean (MedSudMed, CopeMed, MedFisis and EastMed).

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