The EcoFishMan project held the first stakeholder meeting in connection with the 71st Ancona International FISHING Fair in Italy on the 28th of May. Several speakers from EcoFishMan introduced the project to the attendees.

The purpose of this stakeholder meeting was to get the industry’s point of view about the current fisheries management system, to identify the current problems and wishes for a new management system.  Stakeholders form Italy, Croatia, Iceland and Norway participated in the event. The stakeholder meeting was managed by Marta Ballesteros from the Centro Tecnológico del Mar in Spain, and  provided fruitful discussions and opinions.

The results of the stakeholder meetings will be a list of the most important indicators relating to decision making, implementation, monitoring, audit and control of a management system. The indicators will also be ranked after importance, taking into account minimized ecological impact and maintaining economic and social viability. Another stakeholder event will be held in Copenhagen on 7-9 September 2011.

The output of the meeting could be summarized as:

• Many fishermen feel responsible for changing the situation in the sector.

• There is a feeling of urgency to implement changes due to the current situation being perceived as worsening in the short-medium term.

•Multiplicity of goals and priorities among stakeholder was expressed, generally aligned within stakeholders main groups (fisheries industry, small-scale fisheries, public administration, etc.).

•Their stakes generally meet in a wish to “be heard” and “have an influence on” the decision making processes and/or research projects related to fisheries management.

•The meeting was a first step in the interactive cycle which characterizes the EcoFishMan project using stakeholder participation to solve the puzzle of improving fisheries management systems' design in Europe.