Fisheries co-management: Barnacle fishery of the Berlengas Nature Reserve

Accomplishments:

• – Unique project in Portugal, marks the starting point of participatory processes of resource management.
• – In 2019, the decree-law on the legal framework for co-management is published.

The Co-Pesca II project started in 2017, after the identification of the Barnacle fishery of the Berlengas Nature Reserve as the fishery with the greatest potential for a co-management process, whose shared management between different stakeholders, allows to focus on the sustainability of resources, in its various dimensions: environmental, economic and social.

Promoting this approach is in line with the Foundation’s goal of increasing the sustainability of coastal marine resources exploitation. Portugal is a prime location in Europe to test these options since around 80% of the fleet is small scale and coastal ecosystems have been overexploited.

WWF has been working in co-management schemes throughout Europe and is leading this initiative in Portugal of creating a co-management group composed of fishermen, the academia and public authorities, that will decide the harvest rules and also the commercialization conditions. If successful, this project may lead the way to other initiatives at the national and international levels.

The Oceano Azul Foundation is supporting WWF Portugal in this initiative and wants to be an active part finding sustainable solutions for managing small scale fisheries.