With the project ECONET, sophisticated devices were designed to protect young fish (fish sanctuary) and to operate as tools for attracting and protecting young fish from predators, at a fraction of the manufacturing and submersion cost of the artificial reefs. These devices are designed and constructed with nets of a suitable diameter to ensure that young fish are protected from predators. The devices are rapidly colonised by marine life immediately after submersion, creating a new ecosysytem and providing substantial protection at the stage of colonisation by fish, in other words between the metalarval and juvenile stages. Each gram of biomass of juvenile fish that can be saved can provide between one to ten kilograms of adult fish.

The aim of the ECONET project is to meet the requirements of the most profitable fisheries in the Mediterranean fishing for demersal species, by providing to the fishing sector a simple and low-cost method of implementing large-scale conservation programs. The innovative end products which will be developed will make it easy to develop devices which will be manufactured with nets and other low-cost materials. Various types of protective devices were constructed and tested under controlled conditions, in mesocosm tanks as well as in the open sea.

More info: http://www.ecoreefs.gr/el/

Benefits: ΕCONET devices can create underwater parks on a large scale in various Regions which will be managed by groups of producers - fishermen who will also represent the end users of the parks. These parks will be created in desertified seabeds, where due to easy accessibility and the uninterrupted use of various fishing gear, the stocks have not been given the opportunity to recover in a natural way.

Budget: €345,626.67