Denmark: Green innovation and investment in fish industry aided by EMFAF

Danish industry, from global shipping to reusable coffee cups, is known internationally for leadership in “green” or sustainable technology and practices. This innovative mindset has been given an added boost in the seafood industry with an outlay from the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) “to achieve green transition, support sustainable and energy efficient fisheries and aquaculture, as well as to enhance marine biodiversity in Denmark.”

The programme, extending through 2027, is funded with EUR 287 million in contributions from the EU (70) and the Danish Government (30). Some 86 of this funding is allocated for sustainable fisheries and the conservation of aquatic resources: inducements for energy efficiency of fishing vessels through research and innovation and investments; investments to comply with the landing obligation; promotion and marketing; support to improve data collection and control and enforcement; and funding for river restoration. Another 8 is channelled to sustainable aquaculture: including innovation, research, and investments in sustainable aquaculture to reduce negative ecosystem impacts and enhance energy efficiency; promotion and marketing. The remaining 6 is intended for technical assistance.

Denmark hopes to become a role model in the EU’s green transition with, among other things, a stated target of 70 reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030. Its EMFAF programme aims at improving gear selectivity for more efficient and sustainable fishing, and energy efficiency in both fisheries and aquaculture to reduce costs as well as ecosystem impacts. Measures that support the digital transition in fisheries and aquaculture are intended to improve economic efficiency and also environmental sustainability, with better fisheries management (e.g., setting, meeting, and enforcing quotas) and production and marketing of seafood from both fisheries and aquaculture.

Albania: Carp fishers and stocks get a helping hand from Rome

Albania is home to Lake Shkodër, the largest freshwater body on the Balkan peninsula. On Albania’s northwest border with Montenegro and seasonally varying between 370 and 530 sq. km, the lake has historically been filled to the brim with carp. But in more recent years this important fishery resource has dwindled in size, suffering the same challenges faced in countless freshwater and marine areas: shoreside development and climate change, exacerbated by excessive and illegal fishing practices. Over time, the resource’s decline has driven people elsewhere in search of livelihoods.

Help is at hand, thanks to an FAO initiative begun in 2022 and aimed at restoring Albania’s inland fish resources through development of much-needed sustainable fishing practices, supplemented by aquaculture to rebuild breeding stocks. The initiative is part of

FAO’s AdriaMed Project, which is funded by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies. Working with the countries along the Adriatic and Mediterranean, AdriaMed promotes scientific and institutional cooperation to improve the regional management of the fishing and aquaculture sectors. In this case, FAO is partnering with Albania’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The project brings young people into contact with older fishermen and women, to be inspired and to “learn their ways.” FAO staff use this approach with older fishers to keep their traditions alive and to use them to support sustainable practices that will create industry opportunities for jobs, environmental protection, and support for livelihoods in the long-term.

A vital part of the Lake Shkodër project has been the establishment of an aquaculture programme to replace the lake’s dwindling hatchery capacity. Carp broodstock were collected for breeding and transferred to enclosures for induced spawning. When the eggs hatch the larvae are raised to young fish, big enough to ensure a good rate of survival. These fish were released into the lake for the first time in June 2022. Roland Kristo, Deputy Minister of Albania’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, who is in charge of fisheries and aquaculture, says the project has already delivered results and that the lake’s fisheries now have a future.

France: Nonprofit organization Women in the Seafood Industry closes down

Throughout history and across the globe, leadership positions in the seafood industry, from vessel captains to corporate CEOs, have been dominated by men. Around the world, fish and shellfish processing plants mostly employ women on the factory floor but men in the management. In North America and Europe, women who captain their own fishing boat are famous (some have Youtube channels) solely because there are so few of them. All the world’s women who chair an international seafood corporation could hold a meeting in a small boardroom.

In the last several years women have gained enhanced recognition and gender acceptance in this “masculine” industry, and one body to thank for this is the International Organization for Women in the Seafood Industry. WSI was founded in 2016 by a group of gender and seafood experts as a feminist organization to join the battle for gender equality and women’s empowerment in the seafood sector. “Over the past six years, WSI has been an influential international feminist organization and recognized as a first-class source of reliable scientific information on gender issues in many publications, fora and events,” as described on WSI’s website.

However, increasing financial constraints have put pressure on

WSI, and in a statement issued in December its board announced that WSI is reluctantly ceasing operations. “The decision was made with much regret and following long deliberations,” WSI’s board said in a news release. “However, the spirit of the work remains. Hence, WSI is hopeful that other organizations, companies, and institutions – working in fisheries and aquaculture, human and social rights, feminism, and gender equality – will start or continue to build on WSI’s legacy to keep the fight for a seafood industry free of gender inequalities, free of sexism and gender-based discriminations, where everybody enjoys equal opportunities and working conditions.”

Women account for almost half the workforce in the seafood industry; however, less than 15% of them hold high and well-paid positions. WSI has shown the way and now other individuals and institutions must step up as the move towards greater equality between genders must continue for the sake of future generations.

Sustainable fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea come a step closer