Fuerteventura Island Council brings together organisations from ten Atlantic territories to share experience in artisanal fishing through European JAREAS project

Fuerteventura Island Council will host a meeting of the European JAREAS project on the artisanal fishing sector on 27 and 28 October. The project brings together 12 organisations from ten territories: the Canary Islands, Madeira, the Azores, Cabo Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and São Tomé and Príncipe. This partnership will enable participants to share experience, knowledge and good practice to address the sector’s common challenges and promote new economic opportunities linked to the blue economy.

JAREAS, whose full title is “From maritime knowledge to blue innovation: competitiveness, resilience and sustainability for the artisanal fishing sector in the MAC area”, is being led by Fuerteventura Island Council under the Madeira-Azores-Canary Islands Interreg VI-D Territorial Cooperation Programme (MAC) 2021–2027, co-funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

“This project will enable participants to share experience and make progress in areas such as innovation, training, economic diversification and adding value to fishery products. Visits to the fishermen’s guilds in Corralejo and Gran Tarajal will give participating organisations the opportunity to learn about the realities of artisanal fishing in Fuerteventura and hear first-hand about the sector’s needs and proposals.”

The meeting will begin on Tuesday 27 October at the Fuerteventura Island Youth Centre in Puerto del Rosario, with an official welcome from Council President Lola García. The session will outline the project’s objectives and main areas of work, as well as introduce the organisations involved in the partnership.

The first day will include the inaugural meeting of the Project Coordination and Governance Body, where arrangements for coordinating, implementing and monitoring the planned activities will be established.

The transnational workshop “Building JAREAS” will also take place, bringing participating organisations together to define the project’s identity and identify key stakeholders for its development.

On Wednesday 28 October, activities will move to the fishermen’s guilds in Corralejo and Gran Tarajal, where representatives of partner organisations will be able to learn first-hand about artisanal fishing in Fuerteventura, including its infrastructure, organisation and main challenges.

The visits will provide an opportunity to exchange experience with the local fishing sector and identify needs and opportunities that could contribute to the development of the project’s activities.

The project also involves the public company Gestión y Planeamiento Territorial y Medioambiental (Gesplan), along with the other organisations in the international partnership.

With this meeting, Fuerteventura will be the starting point for joint work among the participating territories, with the aim of moving towards a more competitive, resilient and sustainable model of artisanal fishing that preserves traditional knowledge and contributes to the economic development of communities.