Sustainable Fishery – Fight against Illegal Fishing

On 12 June 2018, I participated as MonteAqua Project Manager in the workshop “Sustainable Fishery – Fight against Illegal Fishing”, held at the Institute of Marine Biology in Kotor, Montenegro.

The event brought together more than 50 participants, including fishers, researchers, public authorities, municipalities and civil society organisations. It was the second workshop in the MonteAqua programme, supporting institutional capacity and knowledge exchange on aquatic biodiversity conservation.

I presented MonteAqua, introducing the project framework within which the workshop connected fisheries management, environmental protection and European experience. Later in the programme, I presented the 9mCollab platform, adding a digital collaboration resource to the day’s exchange of knowledge and practical perspectives.

Photo: Radoje Laušević presenting MonteAqua at the Institute of Marine Biology, Kotor.

The technical programme examined illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) through complementary regulatory, inspection and scientific perspectives.

Urška Srnec shared Slovenian and EU experience in sustainable fisheries and IUU regulation, while Robert Smoje addressed monitoring and inspection. Dr Aleksandar Joksimović presented the role of scientific data in sustainable fisheries management, and Slavica Pavlović discussed Montenegro’s approach to fisheries management and measures against illegal fishing.

Discussions highlighted destructive fishing practices, limited inspection capacity and the need for stronger coordination among responsible institutions. Contributions also addressed marine protected areas and the importance of reliable scientific evidence for management decisions.

My contribution linked the workshop’s technical discussions with MonteAqua’s wider cooperation framework. Presenting both the project and 9mCollab brought together the organisational and digital dimensions of knowledge exchange around a shared challenge: protecting marine resources while supporting responsible fisheries.

MonteAqua was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represented by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade.

Let’s make progress together.