EU Awards €7.92 Million to EcoScope to Promote Ecocentric Fisheries Management

The project addresses ecosystem degradation and anthropogenic negative impact on fisheries in European seas. It aims to help restore the sustainability of fisheries and ensure food security and healthy seas balance.

Thessaloniki, Greece, September, 2021 — The European Union (EU) has awarded the EcoScope consortium nearly €8 million to promote an effective and efficient ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management.

The four-year project addresses ecosystem degradation and anthropogenic impact that cause fisheries to be unsustainably exploited in several European seas. EcoScope promotes efficient, holistic, sustainable, ecocentric fisheries management that will help toward restoring fisheries’ sustainability and ensure a balance between food security and healthy seas.

EcoScope will develop several tools, available through a single public portal, to promote an efficient, ecosystem-based approach to the management of fisheries and achieve maximum and continuous participation of stakeholders. These tools include:

• Interoperable platform
• Robust decision-making toolbox
• Online courses
• Mobile application

EcoScope will develop several tools, available through a single public portal, to promote an efficient, ecosystem-based approach to the management of fisheries and achieve maximum and continuous participation of stakeholders. These tools include: interoperable platform, robust decision-making toolbox, online courses and mobile application. Image and caption from EcoScope.

“EcoScope applies novel assessment methods for data-poor fisheries and marine ecosystems and sophisticated ecosystem models that will be used to examine and develop fisheries management and marine policy scenarios, as well as maritime spatial planning simulations,” said the coordinator of the EcoScope Project, associate professor Athanassios C. Tsikliras of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. “This will include an assessment of the status of all ecosystem components across European seas and will test new technologies for evaluating the environmental, anthropogenic and climatic impact on ecosystems and fisheries.”

Tsikliras added that existing fisheries management practices have not always been successful in sustainably exploiting fish stocks, because of weaknesses in management approaches, improper implementation and illegal fishing. EcoScope offers a holistic approach to managing fisheries within the ecosystem context that will support policy makers, advisory bodies and researchers.

The consortium, which received funding through the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, is comprised of 24 partners from Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Canada, Israel, the Philippines, Spain, France, Belgium, the UK, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, Malta, Norway, Switzerland and Cyprus. Q-quatics, as part of the EcoScope Consortium, will contribute FishBase, SeaLifeBase and AquaMaps data and related applications for various analyses, and products of the Project.

Attendees at the first day of the kickoff meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece. Image and caption from EcoScope.

The partners include universities and research institutions, NGOs, technology companies and businesses.

The EcoScope Project will hold its opening conference in Thessaloniki, Greece on September 28, 2021.

Simon Keeble, Technical Director at Blue Lobster, presents the Dissemination and Visibility plan of the EcoScope Project, at the first day of the kickoff meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece. Images and caption from EcoScope.

About EcoScope

EcoScope is an EU-funded project that aims to promote an effective and efficient ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management.

EcoScope addresses ecosystem degradation and anthropogenic impact that cause fisheries to be unsustainably exploited in European seas.

Contact Person

Assoc. Prof. Athanassios C. Tsikliras
Tel: +30 2310 998391
Mobile: +30 6932 609539
Email: atsik@bio.auth.gr