Aisté Jurkiené - EUCC Project coordinator
- What is the objective of IMPACT project in your region?
The objective of IMPACT project in Lithuania is to reduce key pressures on coastal nature and ecosystem services by stepping up efforts to implement EU nature legislation and anchor biodiversity objectives into sectoral policies in regional development.
- Why is it relevant the IMPACT project for you?
The main goal of EUCC Baltic Office in IMPACT project is facilitation of policy improvement in coastal protected area management in Lithuania by acquiring and implementing innovative approaches developed by the IMPACT project team and experts.
What is your role in the project?
- Establishing a local stakeholders network to identify key issues and challenges for protected areas management
- Expertizing in developing innovative management and policy models for protected coastal areas sustainability
- Expertizing and upgrading of relevant planning and policy instruments.
- What good practice have they learned?
EUCC Baltic Office staff and experts work actively with the Seaside Regional Park Administration and local fishermen fishing in the nearshore of the Baltic Sea, which is a marine reserve and a NATURA 2000 site.
The aim of the collaboration is to reduce the negative impact from gill nets on the nearshore seal and wintering bird populations.
After evaluating the needs of the fishermen and the marine nature conservation needs, EUCC Baltic Office has suggested a compromise: to reduce the number of gill nets and, as compensation, to install a slipway for the boats on the beach.
As a result, instead of gillnetting, the local fishermen will be able to offer more lucrative and less damaging marine leisure angling services, whilst the slipway will do less impact on the coast than the anticipated construction of the fishing harbour. Hence, the good practice is in the search and delivery of a win-win conflict resolution concerning one of the priority issues of Lithuania’s environmental policy in relation to the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.
