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Aquaculture and capture fisheries are the source of healthy and nutritional products for human consumption, rich in proteins, essential omega-3 fatty acids and bioavailable micronutrients, as well as employment and economic benefits for all stakeholders involved. The Adriatic-Ionian region contributes around 3,5% of Europe’s total production with 615 thousand tonnes produced in 2021, of which 50% was attributed by aquaculture sector. This sets a strong foundation for the blue economy development in the region, however planning for sustainable future involves many environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges to be solved if the aquatic food sector is to live up to its potential. In the Adriatic-Ionian aquatic sectors there is general lack of the tools and methodologies to properly evaluate and communicate health, environment and social good practices and impacts to consumers and/or leverage them as a business strategy. As aquatic resources in the region are shared across the Adriatic and Ionian seas, cooperation among states is an essential and unavoidable requirement to develop efficient management strategies, considering the geo-political specificities and legal and administrative framework of each country.
FISH-IMPACT will therefore elaborate a comprehensive strategy and workplan to promote actions and measures supporting SMEs development and modernization through the introduction of quality and sustainable requirements. The FISH-IMPACT will collect state of art on the available labels/certification systems on the national, EU and IPA markets concerning environmental, social and health performances of aquaculture products, develop a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) regarding ESG standards, sustainability as well as health and nutritional values of the products, and incorporate all these in self-evaluation
online multi-lingual online tool that will be validated with all end-users and stakeholders.
Training schemes for the industry about PEF/LCA, circular economy, environmental labels and other relevant issues for the sector will be provided. Final stage will include wide-range dissemination and capacity building for transferability in the entire Adriatic-Ionian region.
The main outputs of FISH-IMPACT are in accordance with EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region and European Green Deal. They are directed to and for regional and national public authorities, sectoral agencies, large companies, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), business support organizations and general public, i.e., consumers as ultimate beneficiaries of aquatic food sector and project efforts.
The main outputs are:
- Strategy to unlock the competitive advantage of ESG principles for fisheries and aquaculture companies in the Adriatic-Ionian region
- Transnational pilot action to collect end-users’ feedback on tools developed to improve fishery and aquaculture SMEs’ competitiveness
- Toolkit for SMEs to facilitate the introduction of nutritional and sustainability requirements in fishery and aquaculture sectors
- Memorandum of Understanding on cross-border cooperation in the Adriatic-Ionian regions involved to ensure long-term sustainability to FISH-IMPACT outcomes
- Strategy to improve Adriatic-Ionian citizens’ sustainable choices about fish and shellfish consumption
FISH-IMPACT will leave significant mark on all participants and contributors in aquatic food value chain, increase general awareness on the importance of development of ESG smart businesses and instigate a change in consumers’ preferences towards making smart, healthy and nutritional choices in everyday lives. The policy recommendations paper prepared within the project will be available to all interested parties as a guideline tool in ESG oriented decision-making and planning for sustainable blue economy in the Adriatic Ionian region.