sailing ship

11 October 2021
EXTRA, Fishing-Tourism and Sustainable Fishing in the Bay of Vlora on 20 and 21 October
Overview

A two-days event with workshops, meetings and exchange forums on the creation of fishing and tourism related communities in the marine parks of Torre Guaceto and Karaburun Sazani will be organized on 20 and 21 October in Vlora (AL).

These activities are part of the EXTRA project which is financially supported by the Interreg IPA CBC Italy-Albania-Montenegro Programme. They will be carried out by the Albanian Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development (ACEPSD) in collaboration with the Vlora Municipality and other important stakeholders about fisheries and tourism development in the Vlora territory. The two events planned in the frame of the EXTRA project implementation are represented by the International Workshop "Sustainable Fishing and Fishing Tourism in Karaburun-Sazan" and the B2B Exchange Forum of Fish-Tourism Operators.

The first day of events will start with the exchange forum on the creation of fishing and tourism related communities in the marine parks of Torre Guaceto and Karaburun Sazani as part of the B2B event (Hotel “Regina Garden”). This exchange meeting is aimed at small fishing companies from Karaburun-Sazan MPA (Vlore) and Torre Guaceto MPA (Apulia) that operate in the blue economy (fishing, tourism and recreational boating).  Tourism operators and fisheries related stakeholders from Apulia and Vlora region will meet each other in order to look for possibilities of collaboration in tourism and fisheries (including fishing tourism). Mini Panairi i Shijes “Peshkimi dhe Turizmi” is part of the B2B events, which provides a social moment of openness towards citizenship. It is an important event included in the exchange experience events between the SMEs of the Blue Economy, where in a social moment it will be possible to taste receipts seen as a mix of the fishing products and those derived from the agricultural activities in this coastal area. This will create a further collaboration between the interested stakeholders, like fishers, producers involved in touristic activities and touristic operators. Furthermore, it will create a good possibility of involvement of citizens and tourists.

During the day, visits will be organized at the Fishing Center Oriku, where several small-scale fishers and touristic boats are departing every day – including activities of touristic fishing and sport fishing. The next visits will be organized at the Alb-Adriatico 2013 packaging unit and the aquaculture farm in the Bay of Raguza (Karaburun).

In the afternoon, the international workshop will represent the event dedicated to sustainable fisheries and the communities of fishers in the Torre Guaceto and Karaburun Sazani Marine Protected Areas. It will be the occasion to present the Presidia of Small Fishing and sustainability in fishing in Torre Guaceto and other examples for developing the touristic fishing. A particular attention will be paid to the fishing tourism in Albania and Vlora region, where particular updates will be provided to the invited persons about the Albanian fisheries and the particularities of the fishing activities in the Bay of Vlora.

Among the speakers there will be the president of Torre Guaceto Consortium, Rocco Malatesta, Marcello Longo (President of Slow Food Puglia), Francesco De Franco (Torre Guaceto Marine Protected Area), Marco Dadamo (Small Fishing Presidia) and Elvis Kamberi (Agricultural University of Tirana).

Next day, ACEPSD will organize a field visit to the company for the production of processed and packaged sardines Konserva Vlora, very famous for all during the previous Albanian regime – Discussions about the ways of commercialization in possible collaborations with small Italian fisheries enterprises will come out from the visit. Furthermore, in Narta village a meeting with fishers of the Lagoon of Narta will be organised in a round table with all the interested stakeholder (fishing tourism and agricultural tourism) in order to create a community similar to that established by Slow Food Puglia. On the same day, during the afternoon, another international workshop will be organized in Hotel “Regina Garden”. The focus will be on sustainable tourism as a way forward for the conservation of food and cultural biodiversity. Speakers will be Shyqyri Sadiku (Regione Vlore), Alessandro Ciccolella (Director of Torre Guacetto MPA), Iriana Paparizo (Director of Tourism at Vlora Municipality), Nexhip Hysolakoj (Karaburun-Sazani MPA Administrate) and Nertil Xhaferraj (Head of Department of Food Technologies, Agricultural University of Tirana). In the power-point presentations the updates about tourism and the communities to be involved in the development of tourism in Vlore and Apulia will be presented. The Regional Cooperation policy for developing the tourism and the touristic fishing in the region will also represent one of the subjects of the discussions. Furthermore, the development of tourism in relation to the processing of products originated from the small-scale fisheries will be presented.