Success stories

With a circular economy approach, the EU-funded OCEANETS project aims at dealing with marine litter, preventing the loss of the fishing gear, making the recovery of lost fishing gear much easier, and recycling the gears once recovered.

Marine litter is a global concern, affecting all the oceans of the world. Awareness raising campaigns are an integral part of strategies to induce those changes. In Italy, a coalition of civil society, local institutions and parks has joined forces with the EU with the REMARE project.

Walking along a dock, three design students noticed the abundance of old and discarded fishing nets. This led to a shoe prototype, the creation of an eco-friendly business, Fil & Fab, and critical acclaim at the Brest International Maritime Festival.

The Kraimorie district in Burgas, Bulgaria, is a community of only 851 souls, known for its long tradition in fishing and fish farming. At the same time, Kraimorie also projects some wider global trends.

If you look at the sea, it appears to be an expanse without borders or limits, where everybody could roam boundlessly. But then, if you think about all the activities taking place there (fishing, transport, fish farming, tourism etc.), you realise that they each occupy a bit of that expanse,

Fishing activities are a pillar of many a coastal community of Europe. Fishing provides not only livelihoods for those directly involved in the trade and their families, but also for all the related blue economy sectors, from the processing to the sale of seafood, from shipbuilding to production of

The beautiful coast of Istria is an extremely popular destination for holidaymakers: during the summer and on weekends, its waters are teeming with recreational vessels. This is a great economic resource for the local community, but it could have also some unexpected downsides.

Emil Milev has been working as a ship repair factory employee, but has always dreamed of building his own fishing fleet to operate in the Black Sea.

Being a fisher is an ancient job: the first traces of fishing as a human activity date back to 40 000 years ago. Yet, the trade has steadily evolved, and commercial fishing of today is a very different proposition even from 20 years ago.