PAST EVENT - Strait of Sicily stakeholders meeting

Introductory meeting with stakeholders of the Strait of Sicily

The first Mantis Introductory meeting was held in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily, on the 6th of September 2016. Twenty-four stakeholders were welcomed to the meeting, including representatives of national and regional institutions, local producer’s organizations, local fishermen cooperatives and fishermen. Two representatives of Maltese authorities also attended through Skype.

The main objectives of the meeting were to:

• introduce the project to all relevant stakeholders, whose activity depend upon the fisheries resources of the Strait of Sicily (SS)
• gather fishers traditional ecological knowledge on the distribution of essential fish habitat for 4 target species (Deep water rose shrimp, Hake, Red mullet and Red shrimp – Parapenaeus longirostris, Merluccius merluccius, Mullus barbatus and Aristaeomorpha foliacea, respectively) in the Strait of Sicily (GSA 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 21)

The meeting was structured in two parts:

1. Informing participants about the scientific and management background behind fisheries in the Strait of Sicily (SoS) and introducing scope and objectives of the Mantis project.
2. Participatory mapping of essential fish habitats along the data-poor southern side of the SoS.

Report from the meeting you can find here