Responsible fisheries in the Emilia-Romagna region: some reflections for the governance

As promoted by the FAO and then by the EU, responsible fishery is one of the fundamental scopes of a governance study and one that cannot be neglected. Quite the contrary, training in such principles over time has been an important means for guiding and developing the sector. On the other hand, it has been more difficult to adapt the responsibility principles to the situations along the Mediterranean coasts and this has brought the concept of a multi-level territorial governance to the fore. This paper presents data and calculations concerning responsible fishery in the coastal territory of Emilia-Romagna. The aim was to ascertain whether the Community regulations are effectively being applied and to examine what the operators think about laws that encompass different areas. An interesting result was the evident fact that the rules and actual operating situation did not have much to do with each other, an issue that can certainly not be neglected when foundations for effective governance must be created.