Supporting and pre-financing for sustainable small-scale fishing in Croatia

Implementation

Ražanac, Gospić, Senj, the island of Hvar, the island of Vis and the island of Korčula, Croatia

September 2023 – Today

Official project name

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Affiliation project

Transforming Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean 2 (SSF2)

Financing

Coordinator(s)

Partner(s)

Project background

Towards sustainable small-scale fishing in Croatia with WWF

The WWF Adria works in the Adriatic Sea to reduce the pressures threatening small-scale fishing in the region such as pollution, habitat loss, the introduction of invasive species, overfishing and the effects of climate change.

The NGO’s Adriatic branch is improving the management of small-scale fisheries in three Croatian sites: Telašćica Nature Park, Lastovo Nature Park and the Velebit Channel. These are inhabited areas where issues persist around bycatch of unwanted fish and the overfishing of some species, such as scampi.

In 2018, Mediterranean countries and the European Commission launched a Regional Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (RPOA-SSF) to ensure the sustainable future of small-scale coastal fishing. This plan forms the basis of the Transforming Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean 2 project (SSF2) led by the WWF Mediterranean Marine Initiative.

In the framework of the SSF2 project, and with support from the MAVA Foundation, the prefinancing facility BlueMove–created by BlueSeeds and the WWF MMI–was mobilised to help Croatian small-scale fishers access EMFAF grants and so support their ecological transition.

Project background

The creation of our prefinancing mechanism BlueMove

Between 2020 and 2022, with support from the MAVA Foundation, BlueSeeds and the WWF Mediterranean Marine Initiative succeeded in turning a proof of concept into reality: a pre-financing mechanism to help small-scale Mediterranean fishers access EMFAF grants to implement sustainable fishing projects and support their ecological transition.

The mechanism provides fishers with technical support, with technical assistants provides the fishers with the necessary training and support to prepare a robust grant proposal for submission to the EMFAF, and financial support with prefinancing.

The project was entitled ‘EMFF’ and led to the creation in 2022 of a prefinancing mechanism based on a fund: BlueMove.

56 applications were submitted by Croatian fishermen to undertake a sustainable project, and 15 to 20 fishermen will be supported between 2024 and 2025.

Our achievements

Launching BlueMove to support Croatian fishing communities

A number of actors were brought in to provide the technical and financial support available to Croatian fishers through BlueMove:

Coordination: BlueSeeds, WWF Adria
Financial assistance: Croatian Cooperative for Ethical Financing ZEF
Technical support: Ante Sladoljev, Director of the FLAG Galeb and consultant

Camille Richer who manages the BlueMove fund travelled to Croatia to co-run a number of workshops alongside coordinators from WWF Adria and ZEF, in order to put BlueMove into practice at the target Croatian sites.

These working sessions enabled us to identify impact objectives, devise a transparent scorecard to select sustainable projects, and organise information workshops about EMFAF and BlueMove and a call for application for fishers.

BlueMove will provide ZEF with a financial guarantee of 100,000 Euros to pre-finance small-scale fishing projects through microcredits. If fishers become members of the cooperative themselves, they are entitled to an interest-free loan amounting to 8 times their contribution to the cooperative. ZEF will have primary responsibility for assessing and managing the loan.

Impact

Carbon reduction and increased selectivity for 25 Croatian small-scale fishers

applications received

from Croatian small-scale fishers seeking technical and, in some cases, financial support

fishers supported

who have benefited from technical support in submitting their sustainable fishing project to EMFAF and in carrying it out

fishers financially supported

who benefit from a microcredit issued by the ethical bank ZEF thanks to BlueMove’s financial guarantees, to pre-finance their project before obtaining the grant