Our impact so far
Rooted in tradition and resilience, small-scale fishers can play an active role in driving the sector towards greater sustainability. BlueMove helps them.
BlueMove is a fund increasing the use of public and private grants to help small-scale fishers develop sustainable fishing practices. We provide them with:
Individual technical support
for fishers to prepare a robust funding application for a sustainable project.
Project pre-financing
thanks to partnerships with banks through guarantees for fishers to start their sustainable project.
Challenges we help fishers tackle
Making sustainability possible
Small-scale fisheries lack means and awareness on ways to take action. BlueMove and its local partners help them identify needs and environmental pressures, and solutions.
Reducing administrative barriers
Most funding goes to large fisheries which have the administrative capacity to capture them. BlueMove provides small-scale fishers with technical assistance to submit grant applications and develop their sustainable projects.
Enabling investment and modernisation
Fishing equipment can be outdated and unsustainable for nature. Yet upgrading it often requires for fishers taking on debt. They can’t invest without certitude to be subsidised. BlueMove pre-finances fishers’ projects with low or no-interest loans.
Our vision
A system where public and private finance truly reaches small-scale fishers, enabling them to invest in a sustainable, equitable and economically viable future.
Fishers we supported
I completed four projects that I submitted to the 2014-2020 EMFF cycle. […] I've been able to capture larger specimens with a higher market value thanks to these more selective traps. Additionally, I've decreased the quantity of unwanted bycatches. The benefits of my new traps on scampi populations have been verified by scientists with whom I have collaborated.
Šime Barić
Small-scale fisher in Zadar, Croatia
who benefited from the support
of WWF Adria and BlueMove
I have been working in fishing for about 39 years and here, we basically fish for octopus. We work with cage traps. I had never accessed to MAR2030 support. The support [...] made the difference in the applications because, bureaucratically, it is very difficult.
Small-scale fisher in Portugal
who benefited from the support
of WWF Portugal and BlueMove
I have been working in fishing for almost 6 years. I never took the initiative to apply, and because of the work involved, doing it alone, I never applied. The work you did with us, if you hadn't come, I would never have applied for that support. I wouldn't have had the initiative to apply for the support alone.
Small-scale fisher in Portugal
who benefited from the support
of WWF Portugal and BlueMove
I have successfully implemented two projects that I submitted to the EMFF […]. With the grant, I also installed solar cells and I have significantly improved the energy efficiency of the vessel, reduced fuel consumption, and therefore operating costs. To improve safety, I modernized the complete cabin […] and I installed an anti-slip surface, as well as railings on the roof of the cabin and the deck.
Antonio Đivoje
Small-scale fisher in Lastovo, Croatia
who benefited from the support
of WWF Adria and BlueMove
I work with gillnets and trammel nets. With gillnets, I fish for red mullet, seabreams, picarels, and grunts. With the trammel net, it's mostly soles, cuttlefish, and rays. [...] My engine will be replaced by a 100-horsepower engine, which will give more power to the boat, a newer engine, less fuel consumption, so to speak. With the support they gave, the way they approached us, it was all much easier than if we had to do it ourselves, even though we were doing the work. But with them, it was much easier. The connection they have with MAR2030, with the DGRM, made everything much easier and faster.
Small-scale fisher in Portugal
who benefited from the support
of WWF Portugal and BlueMove
I have been working in fishing for 35 years. [EMFAF] is a lot of bureaucracy, a lot of paper here and there, and in the end, people get frustrated and they don't do it, they don't waste time with it. If it weren't for [this project], honestly, very few applications would have been made here.
Small-scale fisher in Portugal
who benefited from the support
of WWF Portugal and BlueMove
Partnering with BlueMove
We collaborate with organisations and national NGOs that have established strong bonds of trust with fishing communities.