The CRAM Foundation participates in the European INDEMARES project by training fishermen in Natura 2000 Network protected areas

The CRAM Foundation is joining the European project INDEMARES (Inventory and Designation of Marine Natura 2000 areas in the Spanish seas) to help conserve and rehabilitate turtles that travel through and live in the waters of the Mediterranean. The CRAM Foundation brings over 15 years of experience protecting endangered marine species and habitats to this project and aims to improve vulnerable ecosystems for the wildlife living in them.

CRAM's participation in the INDEMARES project involves providing training in matters of sustainability to the cofradías (or fishermen's guilds) that fish in Spain's ten protected areas. This training is aimed at improving the conservation status of the populations of loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) in Spanish waters, minimising the impact that bycatch has on this threatened species.

With the help of the Biodiversity Foundation (Fundación Biodiversidad), CRAM will implement a new educational campaign directed at the cofradías with the aim of making a real and effective change to the incidental bycatch of protected species. This will build on previously successful campaigns carried out by the CRAM Foundation. The new campaign will include meeting with the cofradías in order to explain the problem of bycatch and to explore possible solutions such as incorporating different eco-friendly tools into the basic equipment on board fishing boats with a view to encouraging their widespread use throughout our fleet. Previously successful campaigns involved the design of short-line fishing poles and this has now been taken a step further with their production and distribution. Different trials of this fishing gear have had very satisfactory results.

To achieve these objectives, it is very important to have the support and collaboration of the fishing sector. The CRAM team relies on personal communication with every fisherman who fishes in the project areas. It is also important to work with the General Secretariat of Marine Affairs and the other relevant authorities so that sustainable fishing nets that help conserve marine ecosystems will be more widely used.

The CRAM team has carried out many projects involving these actions. In the nineties, the CRAM Foundation worked directly alongside the fishing sector whilst researching turtle populations. They proposed new ways of identifying the areas most affected by bycatch, by drawing up maps showing risk zones and by starting to work alongside the fishing sector. Different studies carried out by the CRAM team identified the cofradías experiencing the highest levels of bycatch and the kinds of fishing nets that were catching turtles and where the joint activities undertaken with the General Secretariat of Marine Affairs were particularly effective in raising awareness.

CRAM also implemented a new educational campaign focussed on this issue. "Help them" was a campaign aimed at the Catalonian long-line fishing fleet to educate fishermen about the marine environment and the methods they should use to reduce turtle bycatch.

CRAM is known for working closely and in cooperation with fishermen, in order to ensure the future conservation of turtles.