The southern Tunisian coast, especially the Gulf of Gabes, was known not only as a good fishing ground but also as an important spawning and nursery ground in the Mediterranean Sea due to its rich algae beds. However, illegal fishing in recent years has led to overfishing and the collapse of the algal beds, resulting in a significant decline in bottom fish stocks. In addition, effective measures to restore the fishing grounds have not been taken due to insufficient cooperation between fishermen’s organizations, local residents, and government organizations. In addition, no efforts were made to secure alternative sources of income for fishermen in the wake of the restrictions, resulting in non-compliance with the regulations.
The cooperation included demonstration of fishermen’s participation and seaweed bed conservation and restoration in the project area, promotion of pilot resource enhancement activities, preparation of action plans for fishermen’s income diversification based on the project activities, and promotion of technical exchanges with neighboring countries to practice coastal fisheries resource management. As a result, a coastal fisheries resource management model for sustainable utilization of bottomfish resources was developed in the project area with the participation of fishermen’s communities, contributing to the dissemination of the resource management model for sustainable utilization of bottomfish resources in the southern Tunisian coastal areas with the participation of fishermen’s communities.
© Source JICA