Special Mention at Capraia Smart Island

Special Mention at the Capraia Smart Island 2020 event - Fishing Category, received by the Kairos fishing vessel of Porto Garibaldi, protagonist of the Turtle Safe brand.

Yesterday, 25 September, the owner of the Kairos fishing vessel in Porto Garibaldi, directly involved in the sea trials of the Tartalife Action C2, was awarded a special mention at the Capraia Smart Island event. At the end of the project the excellent results achieved during the activities at sea with the TEDs led to the collaboration with the NGO Friend of the Sea, for the creation of the Turtle Safe brand. The Kairos fishing boat is the only one on national panaroma that boasts this type of certification.

The conservation of Caretta caretta, a priority species included in App. II/IV of the Habitat Directive and protected in various international Conventions, has been representing a strategic issue for the whole Mediterranean basin, with professional fishing being the main threat for the survival of marine turtles: every year about 130000 turtles can be accidentally caught accidentally in the Mediterranean.

The project TartaLife, involving all 15 Italian regions overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, aims at reducing:
- bycatches caused by pelagic longline, bottom trawl and fixed nets by disseminating technical innovations of the fishing gears;
- post-capture mortality through trainings for fishermen and strengthening the marine turtles First Aid/Rescue Centres

TartaLife project

Life+ programme

The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental policy and legislation by co-financing pilot or demonstration projects with European added value.

LIFE began in 1992 and to date there have been four complete phases of the programme (LIFE I: 1992-1995, LIFE II: 1996-1999, LIFE III: 2000-2006 and LIFE+: 2007-2013). During this period, LIFE has co-financed some 3954 projects across the EU, contributing approximately €3.1 billion to the protection of the environment.

Life+ programme