WWF workshop for MPA management

The Illas Atlánticas National Park was established in Galicia in 2002. Since then, managers have been developing a regulatory regime for fisheries that hasn’t been agreed yet. WWF has been working for some time in the area, with the aim of achieving sustainable fishing and consensus between the parties, putting together different stakeholders that are related to the marine protected area. As part of these efforts, last Saturday a workshop was organized in Santiago with around 60 people including fishers, surveillance, park managers, scientists and NGOs.

Diego and Elena had the opportunity to attend the meeting and heard from the presentations of scientist presenting the parks natural features, and WWF ongoing work with stakeholder consultation and preferences towards management in the park. On a second round of events, we participated on round tables where we discussed the main impacts that are affecting the MArine Protected Area (MPA). Some highlighted impacts where pollution, tourism and mussel seed extraction. Options for reducing fishing impacts in specific habitats and for threatened bird species were also discussed. More participative workshops are necessary in order to continue discussing the impacts and consequences of regulating fisheries in the MPA, as the goals of each of the stakeholder groups still differ. A MPA with sustainable fishing and efficient marine conservation is on the way.

*picture from WWF spain.