Tengiliður
Jónas Rúnar Viðarsson
Áherslusviðsstjóri
jonas@matis.is
Coastal fisheriers in the N-Atlantic / Kystfiskeri
Coastal fisheries play a vital role in the marine sector of the Nordic countries and often serve as the backbone of the economy of smaller coastal communities. The coastal fleets usually have a big presence in smaller, more remote fishing villages, supplying local processing companies with raw material. The coastal sector is therefore highly important for regional development, as it represents a significant part of total landings and offers employment for a large number of fishermen, processors and other supporting industries. Despite its importance, the Nordic coastal fleet has been struggling for survival for the last decades. This is why a team of stakeholders in the Nordic coastal sector came together in 2012 to facilitate networking within this important sector. With support from NORA, The Nordic Council of Ministers (AG-fisk) and the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation (CCFI) they organised conferences and workshops with the aim to explore opportunities for cooperation and knowledge transfer. This led to various collaborative initiatives and has resulted in the publication of reports on the Nordic coastal sector(s), development of a mobile app to indicate to coastal fishermen how much ice is needed to properly chill and store their catches, publication of brochures in most of the Nordic languages on good on-board handling, publication of a video on the Nordic coastal sector and on-board handling, participation at various workshops and conferences relevant for Nordic coastal fisheries; as well as setting up and maintaining a web page www.coastalfisheries.net where project outcomes and other relevant material is made accessible. This report marks the end of the project and constitutes as the final report to NORA, which was one of the funding bodies supporting the project. The project was primarily intended to facilitate networking and knowledge transfer among stakeholders in the Nordic coastal sector and it is the conclusion of the project partners that the initiative has successfully met those expectations.