Acronym FISH SCALE
Category
Fisheries
Title Food Information and Safeguard of Habitat a Sustainable Consumption Approach in Local Environment Programme LIFE
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source European Coordinator Bruna VALETTINI Coordinator email bvalettini@costaedutainment.it
Coordinator institution
NA
Institutions involved
NA - Coop Liguri (Italy) ,
AGCI Agrital - General Association of Italian Cooperatives; Association of the Agri-Food and Fishery sector (Italy) ,
NA - Lega Pesca (Italy) ,
NA - Legambiente (Italy) ,
NA - Softeco Sismat SpA (Italy) ,
Start year 2010 End year 2013 Funding (€) € 1,074,026 Website https://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.dspPage&n_proj_id=3880#AD Summary The commercial fish market is heavily reliant on certain fish species. As a consequence, certain edible species have a low commercial value due to poor demand. According to the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, out of 719 edible fish species only 10% are currently commercialised. This is mainly due to modern food habits. Non-commercial species are classified as "by-catch" and usually discarded by industrial fisheries. Annually up to one fourth of the fish harvested - about 27 million tonnes is discarded dead into the sea. This practice results in a huge waste of marine resources. It also alters marine biodiversity and reduces the numbers of adult reproductive fish. The FISH SCALE project aims to address the problem of over-exploitation of marine resources and fishing discards by promoting a more sustainable use of the sea and by improving the protection of marine biodiversity in the Mediterranean. The project will seek to change the attitudes of consumers by increasing their awareness of the importance of by-catch and discard species. The project aims to establish a virtuous cycle by stimulating greater demand for less recognised fish species, thereby increasing their commercial value, leading in turn to a reduction in fish discards and hence, better preservation of marine biodiversity. The project will develop integrated communication and demonstration actions involving the whole supply chain of the fishing sector, together with the final consumers, so that they can become pro-active and discover mutual benefits in using currently discarded fish species.
(1) Reduce locally the fish discard by providing at least 15% of the additional species to the distribution and catering market, thus contributing to reduce the fish discard, decrease the overfishing of targeted species and protect sea resources and marine bio-diversity; (2) Increase the commercial demand of additional species to start a virtuous cycle that makes the use of these catches profitable for fishers, commercial distribution and consumers; (3) Activating the virtuous cycle through: (i) informative and communication campaigns at local and national level addressed to the final consumers and the actors of the supply chain, from production to consumption; (ii) demonstration to consumers that the consumption of those species is simple and satisfying and leads to a significant economic saving; and (iii) provision of easily accessible consumption and purchase opportunities to consumers with the support of large-scale distribution; (4) Sensitize the local distributors and economic operators (including restaurant, hotels, etc.) to the promotion and consumption of less known species through the realisation of events, seminaries and workshops for specific audiences; (5) Create a national network gathering the sector's operators, local institutions, home consumers, large scale distribution, catering and tourist operators for promoting and extending the project approach at national level; (6) Promote the change of consumers' habits on the long period by of educational campaigns addressed to young people to improve the knowledge of the taste and issues of sustainable consumption.
Keywords
Waste valorization;
Market;
Environmental impact;
Discard;
Marine Region
47
Ligurian and North Tyrrhenian Sea (GSA 9)
1
Marine Region Map
