Fisheries Management and Biodiversity Conservation in the Mediterranean policy integration: How far are we from policy coherence?

Sašo Gorjanc^1*Ginevra Capurso²Laura Bastide¹Emiliano Ramieri²Andrea Barbanti²Morgane Roquais¹Sarah Loudin¹

• ¹ACTeon Environment, Colmar, France
• ²Istituto di Scienze Marine Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Venice, Italy

The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most extensive global biodiversity hotspots, yet its biodiversity continues to be degraded due to various environmental challenges and socio-economic activities, including fishing. Despite a considerable and comprehensive existing policy framework aimed at balancing socio-economic needs with environmental protection, the mutual integration of relevant policies and institutions remains a source of tension. While Mediterranean fisheries provide significant socio-economic benefits, overfishing remains a critical challenge. This paper examines the integration of marine environmental and fisheries policies in the Mediterranean through case studies, at full Mediterranean regional and two national scales (Italian North Adriatic and French Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region), utilising a combination of literature and policy reviews complemented with semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and ethnography. Specifically, it explores coherence between EU and regional Mediterranean policies, as well as their national implementation in French Mediterranean and Italian northern Adriatic waters. By analysing these case studies, this research identifies the main challenges in policy alignment and existing tensions between the biodiversity and fisheries sectors at the policy level. The EU's Common Fisheries Policy and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean both incorporate environmental objectives, as well as coordinate with the environmental policies and institutions in the region. However, this high-level coherence tends to dilute at implementation levels, due to the persistence of sectoral silos, power dynamics, as well as different levels of political will and available funding. Ultimately, the findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on marine policy coherence, emphasising the need for stronger enforcement, improved cross-sectoral coordination (at the institutional and stakeholders' levels), and adaptive governance mechanisms to safeguard Mediterranean biodiversity.