A technical table to discuss the geopolitical scenario of the enlarged Mediterranean and to analyze the issues inherent to the protection of national interests in the maritime domain.
These are the issues addressed by the Navy and the Italian Federation of Fishermen (FEDERPESCA) gathered in remote mode in the meeting hosted "virtually" by Division Admiral Vincenzo Montanaro - head of the 3rd department Planning and Maritime Policy - and in which the general manager of FEDERPESCA Luigi Giannini participated.
The meeting - held remotely and which follows up on the meeting between the Navy Chief of Staff and the director of FEDERPESCA - constitutes the "kick-off" for an effective and fruitful collaboration between the Navy and the fishing cluster with the intent of seeking shared and useful solutions to the country-system, in compliance with the respective competences and mutual needs, making use of the fundamental contribution of the general command of the Port Authority Corps and the command in chief of the naval team.
Representatives of the 3rd Department of the Navy General Staff illustrated the tasks and commitments that the Armed Force has planned for 2021 through a focus on Maritime Security, or on the operations and awareness of national and international maritime safety (Maritime Situational Awareness).
In fact, during the event with FEDERPESCA, the operations currently underway by the Italian Navy, engaged until December 2020 with Nave Alpine in the waters of the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden with the EUNAVFOR ATALANTA operation, and with Nave Martinengo in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, to tackle the phenomenon of maritime piracy and to consolidate collaborative relationships with local security forces.
In this regard, the issue of the systemic approach to maritime has been addressed, which has never been so relevant at a time like this in which - at different levels - a process of revaluation and strengthening of the culture of the sea of Italy is underway. The country's undoubted dependence on the sea is to be understood as the indispensable prerequisite from which to start to play and maintain a leading role in the "Mare Nostrum" and to protect itself from the interference of actors, near and far, who in various ways manifest in these waters their presence. In this perspective, analyzes were shared on the territorial and migratory processes affecting the Mediterranean as well as on the actors who are affected, for various reasons and with different consequences, of these processes.
Then, by the general command of the Port Authority Corps - Coast Guard, some aspects concerning the regulation of various Fishing Protection Areas.
Furthermore, during the event, FEDERPESCA presented its "Reinassance" project which aims at the recovery and reclamation of the Adriatic and Ionian seas from pollution, from whose waters the fishermen - in the course of their activities - recover polluting materials that correspond to 45 percent of their "draws". The need to remedy an alarming situation such as that of the pollution of national seas, was shared by all those present, underlining the competitive commitment that the Navy carries out in the field of environmental protection by supporting various departments such as that of Environment and Protection of the Territory and the Sea and that of Economic Development.
