Adriatic fishery groups meet

The workshop, attended by representatives of Adriatic fishery associations, was organized by the FAO AdriaMed project, an initiative that promotes scientific cooperation to support responsible fisheries in the Adriatic Sea. Albania, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia participate in the project, which is funded by the Italian Government's Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry Policies and implemented by FAO.

"The chairmen of all the key fishery associations in the region attended the workshop," says Rino Coppola, FAO focal point for the AdriaMed project. "Bringing them all together around the same table improved the chances for creating an effective network for cooperation in the region."

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	Italian fishers at work (FAO/19820/Faidutti)

The aim of the meeting, and of the AdriaMed project, is to promote closer ties among Adriatic countries in order to establish cooperative fishery management initiatives, as recommended under FAO's Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. The project's first priority is development of a common pool of knowledge to encourage collaboration in fishery management. A second priority is to strengthen technical cooperation among the national fishery research institutes and administrations. The AdriaMed project is also working to coordinate research and scientific activities in the region through the development of pilot projects and the organization of national and regional workshops and training in the fields of fishery biology, socio-economics and management.

In Albania and Slovenia, the project is currently providing tools and training to assist the governments in setting up statistical units to collect and evaluate data on the number of fishing vessels operating in each country, the size and health of the catch and other information.

Click here to learn more about AdriaMed.

1 August 2001

Related links

• AdriaMed Web site
• Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries
• FAO Fisheries Department
• News & Highlights archive