At a meeting in Marseille organized by SEO/BirdLife and LPO thanks to the Life PanPuffinus! project, which has cross-border collaboration as one of its most important assets

A group of Catalan fishermen, together with technicians from SEO/BirdLife and from the Catalan administration, have recently travelled to Marseille to share experiences with their counterparts on the mitigation of seabird bycatch in fishing gears.

Bycatch in fishing gear, such as longlines and gillnets, are one of the main causes of mortality for several species of seabirds, including the threatened Balearic and Mediterranean shearwaters, endemic to the Mediterranean, on which the project focuses. Not only seabirds but also fishermen are negatively affected by this fact. The animals “steal” the bait intended to attract commercial fish or get entangled in the nets, thus hampering fishing activities.

Many Spanish fishermen, aware of the importance of these species for a healthy marine ecosystem, and taking their own harm into account, have been collaborating with SEO/BirdLife for several years through different projects, by providing data on bycatch occurrence and by testing bycatch mitigation measures to reduce them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This valuable experience has been shared with French fishermen who have recently engaged to the same goal in their country.

The meeting was organized by the Spanish and French BirdLife International partners: Sociedad Española de Ornitología (SEO/BirdLife) and Ligue per la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO), both with extensive experience in the conservation of seabirds. The exchanging meeting agenda began at the office of the Regional Fisheries Committee of the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (CRPMEM-PACA). The CRPMEM-PACA staff presented an overview of the fishing sector and fishing organization in this region, which was followed with great interest by the Spanish fishermen.

The next stop, at the fishing market and port of Carro, in the village of Martigues, allowed for a distended space to share experiences with several French fishermen about mitigation measures implemented in Spain and their work with environmental organizations, but also on fishing techniques, fishing gears and so on. A very profitable exchange time that will probably continue with the visit of the French fishermen to Spain, as they expressed their willing to do so, at the end of the session.

 

The Life PanPuffinus project aims at improving the conservation status of two endemic and threatened Mediterranean seabirds, the Mediterranean shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan), and the Balearic shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus), listed as «vulnerable» and «critically endangered». respectively, according to the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) by transboundary collaboration for joint large-scale conservation efforts. This project is co-financed by the Life programme of the European Union, coordinated by BirdLife Malta, with the partnership of BirdLife’s partner organizations in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain, as well as the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture from Malta (DFA), and the Hellenic Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (NECCA).

Link to the new at SEO/BirdLife web: Compartimos experiencias con pescadores españoles y franceses – SEO/BirdLife