On 27 July in Gdynia, during a WWF conference “New Common Fisheries Policy – challenges and chances”, Polish members of OCEAN2012 handed over a commemorative photobook based on the 2011 European Fish Week (EFW) to Leszek Dybiec, the Political Adviser to the Polish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
In Poland, the 2011 European Fish Week event included a photography exhibit titled Back to the Future, held at the Warsaw City Hall. The exhibition’s grand opening took place on 6 June at the City Hall, and the photographs were on display until 20 June.
The EFW photobook given to the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development– which includes the Department of Fisheries– is based on this exhibition, which includes a collection of stories and evidence of the past natural wealth of the Baltic Sea as well as the fishing coastal communities dependant on it. The book contrasts the more glorious past with the present situation in EU fisheries, which is characterized by overfishing, gradual disappearance of coastal fishing communities, and in general, severe mismanagement of marine resources under the current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
The book also includes personal messages from the public attending the exhibit, directed at Marek Sawicki, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and his Secretary of State, Kazimierz Plocke , with a plea to ensure an effective and environmentally sustainable CFP reform, which would serve as a tool in bringing back rich biodiversity to the Baltic Sea and wealth to the fishing communities.
Due to popular demand, the EFW exhibit will travel to the Fisheries Museum in Hel, and will be on display from September 2011 until January 2012.
For more information on the European Fishweek, please check the links below.