Deck to Dish: advanced training in Community Supported Fisheries Erasmus Project

Project Title

Deck to Dish: advanced training in Community Supported Fisheries

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Rural development and urbanisation; Agriculture, forestry and fisheries; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

The essence of the “Deck to Dish” project is to provide an advanced training for Community Supported Fisheries initiatives in Europe.
Small-scale fishing communities worldwide are suffering from the impacts of increased global trade in fish products, dwindling fish stocks, climate change, and environmental degradation. These trends affect fishermen in Europe, where fisheries policies in general have, for several decades now, favoured the growth of the industrial sector at the expense of small-scale fishers, who have been losing access to fishing areas and markets.

In order to support small-scale sustainable fishing, the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model has been replicated, with initiatives taking the name of “Community Supported Fisheries” (CSF). CSA is a partnership whereby consumers commit to a long-term relationship with their producers. The efforts to create CSF have met with success in North America, where a network already exists (LocalCatch.org, under the umbrella of NAMA, the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance). In Europe, there are also hundreds of initiatives. However they remain scattered, often without any connection to other similar initiatives in their own or neighbouring countries; there has not yet been a comprehensive international study of CSF initiatives.

In order to address that gap, URGENCI, as the leading CSA platform, has thus proposed to join forces with 3 fishers’ organisations that have been pioneers in CSF, as well as with the Transnational Institute (TNI), who has been researching the topic of sustainable and artisanal fisheries for some years already. “Deck to Dish” objectives are to 1) consolidate and expand existing CSF initiatives through a specific advanced training programme; 2) Increase knowledge and experience sharing about CSF within the CSA movement; 3) Raise awareness about CSF at national and international levels through innovative training and knowledge sharing methods; 4) Up-skill participating organisations’ staff.

The main activities consist in 1) designing and testing a training program for fishers’ organisations and LSPA networks on how to organize Community Supported Fisheries; 2) completing the first ever mapping of CSF in Europe, as part of the 2020 European CSA and CSF census; 3) setting up a Directory of experienced CSF mentors, in order to reinforce the CSF practitioners’ skills and foster CSF dissemination.

At least 155 fishers, consumers, group facilitators will take part to the testing of training modules (multiplier events). 11 partner organisations’ staff will be trained to conduct the survey and will be able to update the mapping after the project. A first generation of 18 CSF trainers will be trained during the TROUT (Train-our-trainers training). 5,000 citizens, mostly from the CSA and CSF movement, will be informed about the project’s activities and products.

These trainings will be based on peer-to-peer learning and popular education principles. They will include participatory techniques, as role-play, deep listening and “open space technology”.

The results of the training will be manifold: the first generation of CSF Trainers will be trained and ready to train new CSF members and fishers; methodologies and practices for direct sales will improve; the availability of knowledge and training material to foster the creation of new CSF groups will increase; the development of new CSF groups will be fostered, inspired by the participation in the training; the training will be implemented in non-participating countries.

Other project results include the recognition of CSF within the LSPA movement. This implies for example the creation of a space for working on CSF within URGENCI.

“Deck to Dish” also aims at raising awareness about CSF at national, European and international levels: the expected results include increased awareness of CSF initiatives in Europe, new alliances established by project partners with other stakeholders, and increased capacity for fishing communities to engage decision-makers.

Finally, some foreseen results will positively affect the project’s staff: capacity to conduct regular Census updates in the future will be enhanced; the culture of international cooperation among partners will be developed; staff members will gain experience in running an international multilateral project; partners’ staff skills in informal education will be reinforced.

The main collective benefits from this project are related to dissemination. In the near future, the CSF mapping methodology can be used for further mapping efforts in other parts of the world. Similarly the very first training programme for CSF can be replicated immediately after the project in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between URGENCI and the FAO in October 2017. Several training programmes developed by URGENCI within Erasmus+ projects have already been implemented in other parts of the world in this framework.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 192609 Eur

Project Coordinator

RESEAU INTERNATIONAL URGENCI & Country: FR

Project Partners

• STICHTING TRANSNATIONAL INSTITUTE
• Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance
• S. S. Istanbul Bolgesi Su Urunleri Kooperatifler Birligi