Helping fisher folk help themselves

Raluca Andreea Bumbac, the manager of the FLAG Delta, which is implementing projects to boost the economy of the fishing community in the delta.

Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund supports the local development of fisheries communities. Private and public members of a fisheries community join together in a Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) to prepare and implement a local development strategy for the area. The FLAG typically comprises representatives from private industry, local government, NGOs, and civil society. These partnerships help fishing communities in three main ways: by linking them into networks and increasing their influence; by safeguarding jobs and raising incomes; and by creating new job opportunities through the acquisition of new skills, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

There are over 300 FLAGs active across the EU today that are managing more than 11,300 projects. In Romania 14 FLAGs are running 320 projects. Among the FLAGs is one based in Tulcea county, home to the Danube Delta. The delta is a unique area in Europe thanks to its geological and geomorphological features and the fact that it hosts thousands of plants, birds, and aquatic animals, many of which are endangered species. The delta is a natural biosphere reserve and a World Heritage Site and is divided into different functional areas some of which are strictly protected, others form buffer zones, while in others economic activities are permitted. These activities include commercial freshwater fishing and fish farming, work that sustains a large number of fishing communities in the region. There are estimated to be over 130 species of mainly freshwater fish in the reserve and about 40 fish farms cultivating a variety of species, carps, catfish, pike perch, and pike among others.

Environmentally-friendly tourism can supplement jobs and incomes

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Over the last decades however the delta has been suffering from two distinct but related problems, the extreme poverty of the local population and the pressure on natural resources. With the launch of Axis 4 the opportunity arose to create a FLAG that could help address some of the challenges that were affecting fishing communities in the delta. The FLAG represents an area of some 5,200 sq. km that covers the Danube Delta, some interior areas of Tulcea county, and the coast of the Black Sea. The FLAG’s members include the Tulcea County Council, the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, RO-Pescador (Fishing Vessel Owners Association), and two other associations. The broad objectives of the FLAG strategy are to develop tourism infrastructure and promote ecoturism; create additional jobs outside the fisheries sector; and to protect and improve the natural and cultural heritage in the area.

According to Raluca Bumbac, the FLAG manager, there has been a gradual decline in commercial fish stocks in the delta with the result that fishermen have also seen a drop in their catches and incomes. It is therefore important to increase the competitiveness of fisheries in the Danube Delta as well as try and find alternative livelihoods for the fishers. Infrastructure in the delta also needed to be improved: roads, sewage disposal, running water, mooring facilities for fishing boats, and pontoon bridges are some of the basic necessities that were introduced or upgraded. Many parts of the delta are only accessible by boat and among the projects submitted was one to provide boats to the local administration so that officials could actually get around to different parts of the delta. Fishing in the delta is prohibited at certain times of the year, usually when the fish are breeding. During this period fishers have no source of income, so a project enabled the purchase of boats which the fishers could operate for tourist purposes. Another project was for the fishermen to renovate their houses to accommodate tourists and offer them meals. The overall idea behind these projects was to try and persuade people living in the delta that there were alternatives to fishing and that they did not have to leave the area and seek employment elsewhere.

Projects achieve FLAG objectives in different ways

The FLAG also renovated three churches in the area, for, as Ms Bumbac says, these too are an important part of the community life, which the FLAG was established to try and preserve. One of the biggest projects, which was backed by the Tulcea city council, the Tulcea county council and RO-Pescador, was the construction of an open air museum that represented the three channels of the Danube that flow into the Black Sea. Each village along the three channels is depicted in the museum by a scale model of a house typical to that village. The museum serves to inform visitors about life in the Danube Delta perhaps sparking an interest in them to visit the delta and avail of some of the facilities that have been established there through the FLAG and thereby contribute to its economy.

Although functional on paper since 2012 the FLAG has in fact been really operating only since 2014, says Ms Bumbac, thanks to a combination of circumstances. A lack of personnel, procedures, and support from the ministry all contributed to the start being delayed to the last two years of the programming period 2007-2013. We hope to continue, says Ms Bumbac, we will have to write another strategy for 2014-2020, but to do so the ministry has to have the operational programme for fisheries approved by the European Commission. This creates a lot of uncertainty as nobody knows whether the FLAG will continue, which makes it impossible to continue the activities. The FLAG has already made a significant difference to the area. The Danube Delta, covered in wa
ter, with little infrastructure, isolated communities, and dependent on fishing, is unique and that is why it is important to develop alternate livelihoods that are sustainable both in terms of the people that live there and in terms of the environment. But people also have to be more open minded and creative, devising plans that offer innovative solutions to some of the challenges they face.