ITALY
and shellfish Marano Lagunare follows an ancient fishing practice. Twice a year, in spring and September, all the town’s fisherman take part in a lottery to determine who has the right to fish in what areas. The fisherman with the highest number gets to choose the best place in the lagoon for that season. Everyone must respect the rules, if they want to participate in the next lottery. These include respecting the limits on fish size as set by At the factory bivalves are cleaned, graded and packaged, most often into nets.
goal is to work towards sustainable aquaculture of the Manila clam in Marano lagoon. There are significant differences between the mentalities of a fisherman and an aquaculture farmer, says Zentilin. A fisherman only invests in the harvest. A farmer must also invest in the land and the seed. Farmers have to wait and test. These different mentalities
cause a lot of problems. Not only here; it’s the same in every part of the world. Today, we need a cultural revolution here to convince everyone about the importance of sustainable aquaculture.
An ancient type of organisation As an old Venetian town with a long tradition of catching fish
local and national bodies; fishing with the correct gear; and obeying the time limits. In addition, other fishermen must also be respected. These traditions will perhaps help bridge the differences between fishermen and shellfish farmers for the benefit of both. William Anthony Almar Soc. Coop. Agricola a r.l. Via A. Volta, 33058 San Giorgio di Nogaro, Udine, Italy
Administrative ofďŹ ce Via G. Raddi, 2 33050 Marano Lagunare, Udine, Italy Tel: +39 431 640596 Fax: +39 0431 67411 almar@pec.almar-net.it http://frescoalmar.it/ Director of Health: Dr Aurelio Zentilin Activity: ShellďŹ sh aquaculture, specialising in Manila clam
Company Fact File Facilities: Depurating and packaging facility Products: Fresh manila clams, mussels, oysters, striped clams, smooth clams, cockles, and razor clams Markets: Italy, Spain, and other countries in Eastern and Western Europe No of employees: 40
Fishers of giant red shrimp promote their product
A higher price for sustainable shrimp of Sicilian origin? A decrease of resources in the Mediterranean Sea, including the Strait of Sicily, has been observed during the past years. This could be associated with biologic and climatic factors. Other factors contributing to the decrease of catches are the increase of costs associated to ďŹ shing and landing activities. Meanwhile, the common view among scientists, producers’ organisations, is that the quality and freshness of the ďŹ sh locally is not known internationally and this needs to be promoted and marketed in connection with the tourism sector, a high source of revenue for the Sicilian economy.
C
omFish is an EU-funded project that seeks to improve communication between the stakeholders in the fisheries sector. This could lead to valuable practical benefits such
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as closer collaboration between fishers and scientists, and greater awareness of the challenges faced by fishermen, outcomes that could lead to the formulation of better and more relevant policy for the
sector. Among the outputs from ComFish is a series of films made in different sea basins that will communicate some of the issues that fishers are facing today. One of the films was made recently in Sicily,
specifically in Mazara del Vallo, one of the most typical Sicilian fishing villages, situated on the Strait of Sicily with an harbour that hosts one of the most important trawlers fleet in the central-eastern Eurofish Magazine 6 / 2014
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