The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) has hosted its first workshop on decarbonisation, an important new topic for the Mediterranean and Black Sea fishing industries.
More than 100 people attended the workshop at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, including scientists, member nation administrators, representatives from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), and GFCM experts.
Participants discussed the scope of potential synergies with other GFCM expert groups and existing monitoring programmes in areas such as discards, biological sampling and the bycatch of vulnerable species. Aspects of these programmes could be expanded to include the collection of basic information on fuel consumption and fleet emissions, particularly in areas and on fishing activities where data are most limited.
The workshop went on to evaluate decarbonization activities already taking place in the fishing industry, reviewing a number of research projects, pilot studies and trials at sea that are currently underway in Algeria, Italy, Croatia, Spain and Türkiye, as well as further afield.
By the end of the discussions, participants agreed on a set of future steps for decarbonising the Mediterranean and Black Sea fishing fleet. These will be compiled into a roadmap towards a low-carbon future for regional fisheries.
Find out more at on the FAO website.
Details
- Publication date
- 23 March 2023