Even though the project was initiated in the heart of the summer, in the middle of the COVID crisis outbreak in Greece, phase 1 was successfully planned, implemented, and completed.

Difficulties were mainly related to the transport of the researchers in the field and especially in the insular areas, the in-person interactions (interviews) between the researchers and the fishers, the ability of the researchers to find and locate fishers in the ports due to the lowered demand for fish or shift of fishers occupations (for example to tourism or olive harvesting).

These circumstances required acute flexibility on behalf of the project’s teams –from its leadership to the field teams- and an adaptive and dynamic day to day management towards finding practical and oftentimes creative solutions to the aforementioned challenges. Additionally, despite the economic challenges faced by the fishers community itself, especially under the COVID crisis, fishers throughout the country responded quite positively to the project and saw this as their last opportunity to contribute to a process that aims at addressing one of the most important issues they have been facing for decades impacting their wellbeing.

More info about the project.