BLUEfasma White Paper - Proposing solutions to overcome barriers and support blue circular economy in Mediterranean fishery and aquaculture sectors

This White Paper presents the BLUEfasma Thematic Working Group's (TWG) work in support of the transition towards a Circular Economy in fisheries and aquaculture in the Mediterranean area. The document explores the relationship between the principles of Circular Economy, Blue Economy and Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, through the analysis of relevant sources and dialogue between several players. The document has been drafted in a challenging context, especially for the fishery and aquaculture sectors, and it is intended as a contribution to ongoing reflections and barriers, as well as proposals for the transition to a sustainable, blue Circular Economy.BLUEfasma project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg MED Programme 2014-2020 in the framework of the third call for proposals for modular projects, under the Priority Axis 1.1 "To increase transnational activity of innovative clusters and networks of key sectors of the MED area". BLUEfasma integrates and implements Circular Economy (CE) principles in the key Blue Growth sectors of fishing and aquaculture to benefit Mediterranean insular and coastal areas in an innovative way. The project tackles the transnational challenge of the continual depletion of natural resources and the below-EU average of the Mediterranean Circular Economy innovation performance in fishing and aquaculture. Its overall objective is to empower innovation capacity of SMEs, maritime clusters, networks and protected areas to boost blue Circular Economy growth in insular and coastal areas