Sustainable small-scale fisheries

Establishing pre-financing facilities for small-scale fishers to access EU funding

The project develops the concept and assess the feasibility of a pre-financing facility that would allow small scall fishers to access European subsidies (EMFF) to foster the transition towards sustainable fisheries.

Objectives:

Promote the transition of small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean towards more sustainable fishing.
Enable the largest number of artisanal fishermen to access traditional and innovative financing.
Show quantitative and qualitative results thanks to specific impact indicators.
Revitalise territories and create partnerships at local level.

Marco Costantini

Marco is a fish biologist and an expert in fisheries acoustics. He is a Project Manager at the WWF Mediterranean and the coordinator of the Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries project creating a pre-financing facility to give small-scale fishermen access to EU funds.

Partners

The European Union provides fishermen with the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), which aims to encourage the transition to more innovative and competitive sustainable fishing. But although small-scale fishermen represent 84% of the Mediterranean fishing fleet, they rarely benefit from this fund. This is due to a lack of initial capital, difficulty in accessing bank loans and a strong need for technical assistance in the preparation of their aid applications. This project aims to maximise their chances of accessing the EMFF, through pre-financing facilities for small-scale sustainable fisheries.

Budget (total) : 1,173,811€