Project overview:

The Black Sea is an important transboundary fishing region surrounded by six countries: Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine. Fisheries and aquaculture in these countries provide vital sources of food, employment, recreation and trade which support the Black Sea coastal communities, and both fisheries and aquaculture are critical to the social and economic health of the region. However, the Black Sea is widely recognized as one of the regional seas most damaged by human activities. A number of its fisheries are in a depleted or critical state and concerted action at regional level is needed to help them to recover.

Despite a relatively good history of cooperation in the field of Marine Environmental Research, namely within the framework of the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (BSC), and through several regional projects, large differences in socio-economic and institutional structures persist among the Black Sea nations. This has contributed to a lack of regional cooperation on fisheries research and management, and to a significant imbalance in capacity in this field.

The project “Identification and formulation of a regional project to strengthen Scientific, Technical and Institutional Cooperation to support Responsible Fisheries in the Black Sea” (referred to as BlackSeaFish) supports the strengthening of regional scientific, technical and institutional capacity and cooperation mechanisms in connection with research and management for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, in line with the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries.

The project was implemented through a participatory approach, with the full involvement of all partner countries and regional organizations to define the main themes for the project document. 

The main output was an Overview Report on Black Sea countries and a full project document to be submitted to potential donors for funding approval.