On August 20 BIOR, LHEI and Nature Conservation Agency organized a seminar to discuss new MPAs
Workshop on Marine Protected Areas and coastal fisheries management
Institute of Food safety, Animal Health and Environment “BIOR”, LHEI and Nature Conservation Agency started to work on mapping and research of specially protected marine habitats in the Baltic Sea within the LIFE REEF project. In order to prepare proposals for the creation and inclusion of new Protected Marine Areas in the Natura2000 network, as well as to develop scientifically based coastal fishing management plan, with proposals for reducing bycatch of seabirds and mammals, closer cooperation with the industry is needed, so coastal fishermen were invited to a discussion.
A seminar was held on August 20, and during discussions it was concluded that cooperation between scientists, project managers, decision-makers and the industry is important and necessary, starting from project planning to the development of policy documents. Scientists together with coastal fishermen should develop and prepare a project application on seabird and mammal bycatch to obtain representative data (Nature Conservation Agency offered funding for a collaborative project). Financial support mechanisms should be planned ahead if fishing areas are to be lost.
Providing reliable and accurate data on fishing grounds can be the basis for finding a compromise between fishing industry activities and environmental protection.
