OBJECTIVES

The second phase of the CopeMed Project started in 2008. The Project will build on the achievements of the first phase of the Project (1996-2005) while strengthening the established framework of international cooperation, which fosters sub-regional approaches in fisheries research and management. The Project aims to maintain the sustainability of marine fisheries in the central and western Mediterranean Sea, taking into consideration environmental, biological, economical and social issues, and aims to promote scientific cooperation among the coastal nations through coordinated scientific investigations and data-gathering as well as through joint multi-disciplinary analyses.

The Project will support national and regional fisheries management processes and will take advantage of the scientific multidisciplinary knowledge that was developed during the first phase. The Project will attempt to reduce the differences in fisheries management between northern and southern countries of the region and will try to encourage a sub-regional approach in fisheries research and management.

Re-qualifying the artisanal fisheries sector in the Mediterranean, particularly in the fragile coastal zones, is essential to the livelihood of the coastal fishing communities. The Project intends to develop pilot activities to assist the artisanal fisheries sector.

AREAS OF INTERVENTION

The main areas of intervention are the following:

• Support the sub regional cooperation (north-south and south-south) and institutional commitment to the shared management of common resources, considering the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries.

• The necessary statistical information (biological and socio-economic) for management.

• Fisheries research (in its biological, ecological, socio-economic and institutional components) and the strengthening of research and regional scientific cooperation.

• Fisheries Information Networks involving all the actors and support to the regional and national institutions.

MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS

The CopeMed Project has made progress in encouraging collaboration among national and regional scientific and fisheries management institutions, and has had a positive effect in the sub-region and beyond.

During the first phase, the Project helped to improve the knowledge of the state of marine resources and helped to standardize common methodologies related to bio-economic data collection and processing in the western and central Mediterranean. The Project encouraged an exchange of fish-related information among participating countries and as created the basis of a sub-regional cooperation network in this part of the Mediterranean. This helped strengthen the institutional capacity of the southern Mediterranean countries for coordinated and cooperative fisheries research and management in line with indications set by the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

TARGET BENEFICIARIES

The fishery research institutions of the region and the national management bodies will benefit immediately from the work of the Project. They will be in a better position to formulate fishery management and development strategies based on sound multidisciplinary knowledge of the sector. The national fisheries departments will be able to perform multidisciplinary data collections and analyses that will be used to formulate fisheries policies. There will be mutual benefits for all concerned because of the strong cooperation among nations and with the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) that will result. The ultimate beneficiary is the fishery sector – from resource users to the various stakeholders – which will rely on responsible and sustainable fisheries development and management.

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES

Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia.

DONORS

Spain, represented by Secretaría del Mar and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), and the European Community, represented by the General Direction of Fisheries and Marine Affairs.

FAO'S CONTRIBUTION

FAO’s vast experience and knowledge developed in fisheries statistics and marine resources, its established contacts and collaboration with the west and central Mediterranean countries and its ongoing fishery projects in the Mediterranean give it the capacity to support the Project.

Many of the scientific results developed by the Project will support the work of the GFCM and its subsidiary bodies. The Project is fully consistent with the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and its technical guidelines, including the International Plans of Action.

BEGINNING AND ENDING DATES

The second phase of CopeMed started in February 2008. Initially the project duration was foreseen for three years, an extension of CopeMed phase II has been adopted by the donors and the FAO until the end of 2017.