The European Commission approved the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund program for Croatia on Tuesday, which includes €348m in funding for projects in the period from 2021 to 2027.

The total financial allocation for the Croatian program 2021-27 is €348 million over the next six years, including €243.6 million, or 70 percent, covered by EU funding.

“The program will help Croatia accelerate the transition towards sustainable use of natural resources, support the protection and restoration of aquatic biodiversity, as well as promote low-carbon aquaculture and processing. It will also boost the green and digital transformation, contribute to the vitality of coastal communities and strengthen sustainable sea and ocean management,” said Virginijus Sinkevicius, the Commissioner for Environment, Oceans, and Fisheries.

Under the program, 46.4 percent of the allocation will go towards sustainable fisheries, 39.6 percent towards sustainable aquaculture, processing and marketing, 13.6 percent towards a “sustainable blue economy,” and 0.4 percent towards strengthening international ocean governance.

The part of the program concerning sustainable fisheries provides for temporary and permanent cessation of fishing activities to help achieve balance between fleet capacity and fishing opportunities; purchase of fishermen’s right to fish with certain gears as support tool for phasing out of certain types of fisheries; investments in improving fishing ports infrastructure to facilitate the implementation of the landing obligation; expanding coverage with marine protected areas to support environmental objectives; investments to support decarbonization of the industry, investments in gear selectivity to exclude the capture of very small fish and avoidance of unwanted catches; effective control and enforcement of fisheries rules and comprehensive data collection activities.

In the area of sustainable aquaculture, investments will be made in increasing productivity, resilience, circular economy and adaptation to climate change; energy efficiency and decarbonization in aquaculture; strengthening competitiveness and fostering innovation, as well as diversification of activities.

As for the sustainable blue economy, the focus will be on developing economic activities related to the blue economy by supporting fishing dependent communities across Croatia.

Investments will also be made to strengthen sustainable management in the Adriatic by improving knowledge on the state of the marine environment, increasing the data quality and sharing,  developing an information exchange system for maritime surveillance, and promoting coastguard cooperation.