This advice is delivered in the context of the EU’s proposal for a recommendation of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) on recreational fisheries. The GFCM is one of the regional fisheries management organisations. It counts 22 member countries & the EU. Its main objective is to ensure the conservation and the sustainable use of living marine resources in the Mediterranean and in the Black Sea
The EAA has been a member of the MEDAC for many years. Laura Pisano, from the Italian EAA member association, chairs the MEDAC working group on recreational fisheries. EAA thus was able to advance a number of positive elements in the text of the MEDAC advice such as:
- Highlighting the development potential of the recreational fisheries sector and the need to provide a socio-economic assessment of recreational fisheries,
- The need to build capacities to facilitate the participation of recreational fishers in the governance of recreational fisheries activities, including through funding,
- The need to distinguish the different segments of recreational fisheries to ensure a sustainable management,
- The importance of making licensing or registration systems mandatory,
- The fact that “pesca tourism” should be considered as a commercial activity to which commercial fishing rules must apply while recreational fisheries rules should apply to ‘charter boats’.
Click here to read the MEDAC Advice on the EU proposal for a GFCM recommendation on recreational fisheries
