AZTI-Tecnalia, together with ten other partners and 6 collaborators, are taking part in an interregional project of the European Union the aim of which is the sustainable development of fishing that uses traditional techniques and tackle off the coast of the south-east Atlantic, as well as the creation of an observatory in order to diversify fisheries activity.

To this end, the EU has created the PRESPO project which, with an overall budget of 3.6 million euros, will be carried out over 36 months in direct contact with coastal fishing personnel. Taking part in this initiative are eleven bodies from Spain, France and Portugal. The project is funded by Feder and, in the case of AZTI-Tecnalia, co-financed by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the Government of the Basque Country.

The intention of the project is to achieve sustainable development and responsible fishing using traditional fishing methods off the S.E. Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, from the Portuguese Algarve to the Breton coast, taking in Galicia, Asturias and the Basque Country. In order to achieve this, it will be necessary to improve current management policies on common fisheries resources through the development of alternative instruments, within the framework of comprehensive management for coastal fisheries.

With the aim of achieving these objectives, PRESPO is proposing the participation of the sectors involved in fisheries management - the fishing industry itself, Government agencies and scientists, through the creation of joint observatories. The Community initiative also aims for traditional fishing to have the levels of biological and technical knowledge as do industrial fishery activities. Another goal of PRESPO is to analyse the diversification of the traditional fishing fleet's activities and assess the viability of tourism fishing and eco-tourism. Finally, the project aims to value the fish caught with those nets and tackle that respect the marine environment, to boost the quality of these products and to certify this quality, as well as to know the impact of the activity in the marine ecosystem.

Each one of these objectives will be developed within a work group, coordinated by one of the partners, with the direct involvement of a traditional fishing sector for each region involved. The PRESPO project will finish in 2011 with the organising of a seminar on alternative fishing, to be held in Vigo, where the methods drawn up and the conclusions reached will be made known.

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