Local, Co-Managed Fisheries: A Path to Sustainable Fishing in the Coastal and Island Communities of the Greek Seas

Abstract

Fish stock depletion in the world’s oceans and seas is one of the world’s most serious environmental problems. In light of Greece’s less than compliant State practice toward fishery management and conservation, this paper explores whether co-managed Fishery Protected Areas (FPAs) are an effective method of increasing the sustainability of Aegean/Mediterranean Sea fishing. This paper presents a broad-brush view of the close relationship Greece has had with the sea in the Aegean/Mediterranean region from ancient to current times. Juxtaposed is Greece’s modern lack of national policy priority for sustainable fishery management and conservation as illustrated through specific examples and effects of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing around the artisanal fishing villages of Fourni Island (Fournoi) and Ormos (Samos Island) in the Eastern Aegean. Also discussed is the European Union’s role in the fisheries governing scheme. Field research gathered on Fourni Island by the author and a research team from the Greek non-governmental organization, Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation serves as the foundation for the paper’s message. In contrast to examples of Greece’s past performance in marine conservation, the paper culminates in an in-depth analysis of the components necessary for successful implementation and functioning of local co-managed FPAs. The Fourni Island artisanal fishing community is currently the focus of a pilot project organizing it as the first co-managed FPA in Greece. The author served as a team member of this pilot project.