FARNET – the European Fisheries Areas Network – is the community of people implementing Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). This network brings together Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs), managing authorities, citizens and experts from across the EU.
CLLD funding is delegated to local partnerships that bring together the private sector, local authorities and civil society organizations. Known as Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs), these partnerships fund local projects within the framework of a strategy, developed in response to specific needs and opportunities identified locally.
Such FLAG is Vela Vrata (the Big Door, named after the maritime passage between the island of Cres and the mainland in the Bay of Rijeka) which brings together islands of Cres and Lošinj, and their respective towns and municipalities, and the city of Opatija, municipalities of Lovran and Mošćenička Draga on the coast.
Its vision is to develop a sustainable fishery in this area, encourage diversification of products and services outside the fishing itself, and promote fishing and maritime tradition and heritage, create new jobs, use innovations, and develop whole life education.
The FLAG Vela Vrata and their volunteers, comprised of people who very successfully run the LAG Terra Liburna led by Mrs. Anđela Cvjetković, invited us on a two-day journey to learn more about the touristic potentials of such heritage. For that reason, several video clips have been made, which we present here.