In the January 2022 of the V2V thematic webinars Tony Charles discusses the leadership of small-scale fisher communities and organizations in protecting and restoring local environments and engaging in fishery management activities. Such environmental stewardship supports and enhances the viability of fishing livelihoods, as well as demonstrating that bottom-up community-based conservation can be the most effective way to produce big conservation benefits.
Mundus maris has highlighted already an example from Italy's Tuscany coast where a nature-protection minded fisher, Paolo Fanciulli, and his many supporters are engaged in a decade-long struggle to protect the near-shore waters from illegal bottom trawling and rebuild a healthy and productive ecosystem. The struggle has received a boost since they founded a non-profit striving to develop an underwater museum with marble sculptures protecting the fauna and flora. It is called the House of the fish (Casa dei pesci). We reported in 2021. Two renowned Italian journalists narrated the epic struggle in a well-researched book by the same title that sells like hot cake. The Italian book review is here.Another example from the Mediterranean is the Côte Bleue Marine Park (France, NW Mediterranean) which can be considered a success story in co-construction with small scale fisheries since 35 years.
Click on the announcement poster and watch the entire webinar to discover other examples and get inspired to support small-scale fishers who want to be the guardians of the sea and warrant all the support they can get.