Start of the use case in the Algarve within the scope of the Fish-X project

Fish-X is a Horizon Europe funded project which, based on case studies with small-scale fisheries in three areas of the EU waters (Atlantic, Adriatic and North Sea), will develop two digital platforms that could serve as a basis for fisheries monitoring and using data to identify fishing hotspots, areas with high risk of catching endangered species, among others. Sciaena is one of the seven partners of the project’s consortium and one of our main responsibilities is related to the use case taking place in the Atlantic, in collaboration with ANP/WWF. 

The use case started this summer, with NEMO devices (VMS equipment) being installed in several small-scale vessels in the fishing communities of Albufeira and Armação de Pêra . These vessels operate with trammel- and gillnets, one or two fishers onboard and never too far from shore. Some of them occasionally switch to pots and traps to target the valuable octopus. The selection of which communities and types of vessels to target was done in accordance with conversations we had with multiple stakeholders but also prior working relationships with some fishers’ associations. Hence, the fishers’ associations of Albufeira and Armação de Pêra were selected due to their general openness to collaborate in projects and because there isn’t much data regarding the specific areas used by these vessels. Additionally, the fishers’ association of Alvor has also agreed to collaborate with the project. This is quite valuable for Fish-X as these vessels operate with longlines and thus we will have data from different fishing gears operating in the same geographical area. 

The collaboration of small-scale fishers is crucial to achieve the goals of the project, contributing to help this crucial part of the fishing sector and giving them the voice to give valuable inputs on how digitalization should be implemented and adapted to regional realities.

You can consult the project’s website here. 

Photo credits: Camila Prisco Paraíso