Poster

Abstract

The Fisheries, Biodiversity and Conservation Group at CCMAR aims to undertake research with direct application at the societal level. In the last 3 years several projects were carried out in which there was a strong stakeholders’ involvement, associated with an efficient outreach program. The first of four of these projects had the objective of promoting the valorisation of fisheries resources, namely the most abundant fish species in the Portuguese coasts, the Atlantic Chub Mackerel (Cavala). This was done in a clear association with the fishing industry, fishing administration, fish traders, municipalities and tourism schools and has captivated the attention of the general public. The second study implemented underwater routes, coastal itineraries and a characterization of the fishing villages of western Algarve in close association with a regional development agency and several nautical tourism enterprises and fishermen associations. The third project was based on the production of maps of the fishing grounds in order to give the fishing industry the tools to defend their interests in the process of marine spatial planning. A sub-product of this project was a map with the names of the sea according to the fishing communities of the Algarve, in what is regarded as a tribute to their culture and heritage and is also a rare case of knowledge transfer from these communities to society in general. Finally, there is currently an ongoing project on the reduction of discards which is being developed using participatory methods, where new technical methods are proposed and discussed by fishermen, scientists and the fishing administration and then tested by CCMAR, aiming to achieve better fisheries management.