Fishing Facilities and Innovation

Fishing in the Prokopanistos fish farm is implanted with the use of traditional fish traps. The cooperative is responsible for 7,237m of the 20,000m of fish barriers constructed by the cooperatives of the Central Lagoon of Messolonghi at the front with the Gulf of Patras.

The cooperative has developed collaborations with scientific and private institutions, the main one being the project "Construction and management of new selective fish traps in lagoons for the escape of undersized fish in the coastal zone" in 2015 with the University of Patras as scientific leader. The implementation of these innovative devices has been characterized by the European Commission for Fisheries as Best Practice and today their use is foreseen by the lease contracts in the whole lagoon complex of Messolonghi-Etoliko.

The temporal distribution of the fish is determined by the migratory patterns applicable to the different species. Due to the function of the lagoons as nurseries, a significant proportion of the catch consists of individuals smaller than the Minimum Allowable Size. To address this problem, since 2011 in the fish trapping facilities of Tholi, the entire mesh of the fish traps has been replaced with escape gates on the part of the front to the sea with adjustable pole barriers, in order to achieve the automatic escape of undersized fish.