MARINE GUARDIAN

Context

Marine fisheries have contributed approximately 80 million tonnes per year globally for three decades, playing a key role in food security and job creation. However, the fishing sector remains largely unsustainable: 38% of fish stocks are overexploited and 79% of the EU’s coastal seabed is altered, with a quarter of its habitats lost, mainly due to intensive bottom trawling.

Although solutions for more sustainable fishing exist, they are often fragmented and lack real-time information to guide fishermen and policymakers. Despite this challenge, marine biodiversity has been shown to recover through effective fisheries management and reduced fishing effort.

In this context, the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the Marine Action Plan, the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) provide the regulatory framework that Marine Guardian uses as a reference to drive transformation in the sector.

Objectives

Marine Guardian will take a holistic approach to develop and demonstrate impact-oriented solutions to reduce the environmental effects of fishing on marine species and habitats, while supporting the economic viability of the sector.
The main objectives are:

1. To develop innovative technologies to reduce and prevent bycatch of sensitive and juvenile species.
2. Establish best practice guidelines to minimise discards and damage to catches.
3. Create decision support systems to implement effective mitigation measures that protect sensitive marine ecosystems and optimise fishing operations.
4. Introduce new methods of data exchange in seafood value chains, facilitating traceability, eco-labelling and corporate sustainability reporting.

All solutions will be co-developed with fishermen, management authorities and policy makers, and validated in six real-life case studies, with the aim of developing a roadmap for sustainable fishing aligned with the objectives of the Ocean Mission.

Expected impact

Marine Guardian will provide more than 40 innovative solutions, co-developed with fishermen, management authorities, policy makers and other key stakeholders, and validated in six real-world case studies (>TRL6), ensuring their applicability and scalability.

Thanks to this comprehensive approach, Marine Guardian is expected to drive an effective transition towards more sustainable, environmentally friendly and resilient fishing in Europe in the long term.

More info: marineguardian.eu