In the sea-faring nation of Portugal, fishing is critical to both the culture and the economy: some of the most fishery dependent regions in all of Europe lie along its coast. Portugal has Europe’s fourth largest number of people employed in fishing (while ranking 12th in EU population), with the highest seafood consumption per capita in European Union. Almost 80% of Portugal’s fishing fleet are small- scale vessels operating in coastal waters.

Yet today the future of small scale fisheries of Portugal is uncertain; the number of vessels in the small scale fleet continues to decline, and many fishermen are reluctant to encourage their children to enter the profession. Moreover, climate change has begun to affect stock distribution and range, which means that effective fishery management will be more essential than ever to ensure that both fish stocks and Portugal’s fishing communities are resilient.

EDF Oceans and Oceano Azul share a vision of long term sustainability for Portugal’s small scale fishing communities: By including fishermen in the decision making process, using science to make sound management decisions, and ensuring fishermen have a secure right to a share of the community’s catch, Portugal can recover depleted fish stocks and fishing communities can reap the benefits of conservation.

We aim to design and implement—together with fishermen, government, scientists and civil society – an illustrative pilot in a willing fishing community. We also aim to develop, where need is identified, enabling policies at a local and national level that would allow this approach to take hold more broadly.
We will begin by laying the groundwork with a six month scoping exercise, and are seeking a consultant to act as Project Coordinator to coordinate this stage of the work and the drafting of a final report on the findings. If we determine that the envisioned pilot project is feasible and fundable, the consultant would be a leading candidate for coordinating the project in chief, which is anticipated to be 3-5 years’ duration.

The core responsibilities of this consultancy include:
 Familiarize oneself with the core mission and approach of EDF and OA, and then:
o Organize and carry out systematic outreach to fishermen, civil society groups, scientists and government officials involved with small scale costal fisheries in Portugal to identify willing potential sites for a pilot fishery management reform project
o Coordinate with OA and EDF on their selection of an outside policy/legal expert who will conduct analysis of potential legal and policy barriers to pilot implementation, and on the preparation of a report on his/her findings
o Coordinate with EDF on carrying out an analysis of the current fleet, catch volume, status of stocks and the upside potential for management reform, and preparation of a report on these findings
o Coordinate with EDF and OA on identifying and assessing potential for additional funding sources to support implementation of the envisioned pilot reform
o Contribute to the development and writing of proposed strategy for development and implementation of the proposed pilot
o Assemble a final report that draws together the above elements and makes recommendations regarding potential site(s), collaborators and funding sources to proceed with a full scale pilot
o Serve as principal point of contact and coordination among project participants Duration of assignment:
Six month consultancy (with the possibility of extension if additional funding is secured) Skills and qualifications:
 University degree in a relevant field of social, biological or economic sciences or law, and a minimum of 3 years of experience in work involving project management and coordination
 Top notch demonstrated project coordination and organization experience and skills
 Diplomatic,goodlisteningandsynthesisskills
 Understanding of/experience with stakeholder engagement and/or co-management
 Excellent written and oral communication in both English and Portuguese
 Familiarity with Portuguese culture and policies (enabling smooth interactions with local and national government)
 Familiarity with ocean/fisheries issues (or general ecological issues of relevance)
 Willingness to travel
Helpful but not required:
 Familiarity with fishing and coastal communities
 Fisheries science background
 Policy analysis, formulation and/or implementation training and/or experience
 Existing links to relevant constituencies in civil society, fishing, philanthropy, science or government
 Fundraising experience

To apply, please send a CV and cover letter, in English, to Europe@edf.org
before the deadline of 30th October.

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