Amorgorama [Αμοργόραμα]: a genuine communal vision for the preservation of the seas.
The short film, or audiovisual slideshow of this post is the first part of the series that will be shot on the field in the coming months, closely following the bottom-up [1] marine conservation and fisheries management initiative of the local Small Scale Fishers of Amorgos in the Aegean Sea. A few months ago I had published another post which provided limited information on this project, now the time has come to properly highlight it!
This novel initiative-Amorgorama- seeks the legislation of spatial conservation measures from the Greek competent fisheries authorities for the protection of Amorgos' seas. It further appeals for the establishment of a participatory administrative scheme, based on fisheries co-management principles [2] for the overall sustainable management of the fishery sector of Amorgos and its surrounding marine area.
The phenomenal abundance of fishery products marketed and consumed in unprecedented quantities throughout the globe is only superficial, while fish-stock depletion and irreversible collapse of marine ecosystems have become more than evident on a worldwide scale. These blighted practices threaten not only the survival of countless species, but also the existence of coastal and insular human communities. Overfishing and the ceaseless degradation of the marine natural environment, through extractive, unsustainable and destructive human practices, pose now-a-days as some of the most important environmental issues to be urgently tackled. If humanity still wants to preserve the oceans and restore them to the blooming marine ecosystems they once used to be, direct and effective response is crucially needed.
This ill-fated state has been brought out not only by conservationists, activists and fisheries scientists, but also by fishers, especially small scale local professionals, heavily dependent on healthy marine ecosystems and thriving fish-stocks necessary for their livelihood. Small Scale Fisheries represent the majority of the EU fishing fleet (approximately 80%). They are particularly important in the Mediterranean Sea, where they have been playing a dominant role in the survival and nourishment of small insular and coastal communities for millennia. Typically, these are family-based businesses, where owners and their whole families are directly involved in the fishing activity. The small scale fishers of Amorgos have suffered over the last years a striking reduction in their incomes. This predicament was mainly induced by the rapidly declining and overfished fish-stocks, the degrading marine habitats, such as Posidonia meadows, coralligenous habitats and mäerl beds, all of which constitute key biodiversity hotspots and foremost nursery and fishing grounds, and the overwhelming and ubiquitous marine plastic pollution.
Amidst these grave circumstances, a local small scale fishing community has created Amorgorama, a shared, collective dream that has become the communal vision of Amorgos Island for a sustainable future both for fisheries and the marine natural environment. Amorgorama has inspired and is embraced by the entire local community and the local authorities of Amorgos, while it is supported by conservationists, the scientific and academic community, environmental NGOs, other stakeholders and authorities on a national and international scale. The fishers of Amorgos demand the designation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), particularly as no-take zones for fisheries in the northern shores of the island, a bimonthly temporary cessation of all fishing activities around the island between April and May, while during this period they will collect and recycle plastic litter and debris from the numerous inaccessible shores of the island with the use of their fishing vessels and caïques. Most importantly they plea for the establishment and operation of an effective and well-guarded MPA, and not the inauguration of a paper-park, a common mishap due to the persistent lack of political will by Greek policy makers.
A recent positive development that may apparently move marine conservation forward in Greek seas has been endorsed by the Greek government and its leadership. A year ago and during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille in France, the Greek PM explicitly expressed his will and commitment to actively accomplish the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 [3], and particularly the 30 - 10 Protected Area targets (at least 30% of the sea should be protected in the EU, while 10% of EU seas should be strictly protected [4]) for the Mediterranean and Greek Seas. Consistent to the above declaration, the national competent authority for fisheries, the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, formally expressed its support to Amorgorama, reflecting thus a critical change in its overall fisheries management policy, which over the last decades remains rather conventional and narrow in terms of environmental conservation and nature protection. Thus, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between all competent bodies, fishers, environmental NGOs and foundations, universities, local and regional authorities, confirming that the vision of Amorgorama is shared by all signatories and that the findings of a fisheries research study currently implemented in the targeted sites will become the main base for the designation of Marine Protected Areas and the future management of Amorgos’ fisheries.
Amorgorama is actively supported by the Cyclades Preservation Fund, the Blue Marine Foundation, the Municipality of Amorgos and the Agricultural University of Athens.
[1] The bottom-up approach aims: (i) to encourage a process of local participation; (ii) to involve the local community; (iii) to draw out ideas and generate initiatives; (iv) to build consensus and (v) to delegate decision-making powers to the local community and the involved stakeholders
[4] According to the Criteria and guidance for protected areas designations Commission’s Staff Working Document 28/01/2022-SWD(2022) 23 final: “In the context of the 10% target in the Biodiversity Strategy, strictly protected areas are defined as follows: “Strictly protected areas are fully and legally protected areas designated to conserve and/or restore the integrity of biodiversity-rich natural areas with their underlying ecological structure and supporting natural environmental processes. Natural processes are therefore left essentially undisturbed from human pressures and threats to the area’s overall ecological structure and functioning, independently of whether those pressures and threats are located inside or outside the strictly protected area”.