The SeaofSkills (Enriching Fishers’ Knowledge, Expertise and Competencies) project Malta multiplier event was recently organised by the Department of Geosciences at the Cottonera Resource Centre in Birgu.

At the event, which was opened by Minister Evarist Bartolo and by Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (DFA) Dr Andreina Fenech Farrugia, the project training material for fishers was showcased to different stakeholders, namely representatives from fisheries’ cooperatives, the DFA, MCAST, Transport Malta, Veterinary Regulation, the University of Malta (through Prof. Joseph Brincat on spatial differences in fisheries terminology), the Public Health Department as well as from the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA). 

The same training material, which covers the thematics of safety at sea, technology on boats, fishing legislation, fish preservation and business skills, will be translated to Maltese, Turkish and Greek and will be transferred to the online e-learning platform in the coming months, accessible from the project website www.seaofskills.eu. The long-term objective is to have the same training material entrenched within an accredited short and flexible course offered locally to fishers by entities specialised in the provision of vocational education, such as MCAST. 

SeaofSkills, funded under the Erasmus+ Programme, aims to provide life-long vocational, learning and training material to artisanal (small-scale) fishermen in Malta, Greece and Turkey. A total of five countries are participating in this project, including Malta, which is represented by the University of Malta through Prof. Alan Deidun and Prof. Mark Anthony Falzon.