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EU project tracks small-scale fishing vessels to improve fisheries management

Responsible Seafood Advocate

The EM4SSF project is collecting GPS data from small-scale fishing vessels in five European countries to support fisheries management and marine planning

fisheries management
The EM4SSF project is tracking small-scale fishing vessels across five European countries to improve fisheries data collection and marine planning. Photo by Susanne Jutzeler.

A European research project is collecting GPS tracking data from small-scale fishing vessels in five countries to improve fisheries management and better inform marine planning decisions.

The EM4SSF project, which is operating in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Denmark, aims to address longstanding gaps in information about where and how small-scale fisheries operate.

Small-scale fisheries account for approximately 85 percent of the European Union’s fishing fleet and support around 100,000 jobs. However, inconsistent vessel tracking and reporting have made it more difficult to manage fishing activity, protect marine biodiversity and account for small-scale fishers in maritime spatial planning.

“Small-scale fisheries are essential to coastal communities, yet they still remain largely invisible in the data,” said Nora Tassetti, the project’s scientific coordinator. “EM4SSF’s ultimate goal is to make them visible, not only on a map, but also in the decisions that shape the future of our seas.”

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Coordinated by Italy’s National Research Council (CNR) and co-funded by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), the project aims to establish a common framework for collecting, standardizing and analyzing vessel tracking data.

The research involves five pilot studies across the North Sea, Mediterranean and Atlantic, with GPS data collection planned for at least six months. As of October 2026, tracking systems were operating in all five locations.

Researchers are also developing shared data formats, quality control procedures and analysis tools that could be used across the EU.

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The project is working with local fishers, authorities, nongovernmental organizations and technology providers to develop and validate the tracking systems and data analysis methods. The collaboration is intended to ensure that the information is useful to fishing communities while addressing concerns about data access and confidentiality.

In Greece, the project is tracking the South Aegean Sea’s small-scale fishing fleet for the first time. A stakeholder meeting at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Spain also helped incorporate agreements on data confidentiality, usability and trust into the project’s analysis design.

The resulting data and spatial maps are intended to support fisheries management and maritime spatial planning by providing a clearer picture of small-scale fishing activity.

Read more on the project website here.

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