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The Central Mediterranean did not need another conference if the only result had been to add more words to an already crowded debate. The real meaning of the meeting promoted in Mazara del Vallo by API – Associazione Progetto Isola was different: to try to transform a historically unresolved issue into a concrete path of dialogue, responsibility and cooperation.
The conference, titled “The Mediterranean Sea between fishing, migration, resources, conflicts and new hopes – Maritime boundaries, security and cooperation between Europe and North Africa in the Central Mediterranean”, was held on Saturday, May 16, at the Aula Magna of the Diocesan Seminary. It brought back to the centre of the discussion a topic that, for Mazara del Vallo, has never been abstract. The Central Mediterranean is not only a geopolitical space. For the Mazara fishing fleet, it is work, memory, risk, economy, identity and, too often, also a place of unresolved tensions.
The initiative was part of the international competition Mazara Narrativa e Poesia 2026, this year dedicated to the fishing vessel Massimo Garau and to all victims of the sea. This setting gave the event a particular significance, linking the debate not only to regulations and diplomacy, but also to the real history of maritime communities.
The spirit of the meeting was clearly expressed by its organiser, Gaspare Bilardello. His reflection avoided any celebratory tone and focused on a precise issue: the Mediterranean must once again become a bridge that connects, rather than a line that divides peoples, territories and nations. From this perspective came the idea of a roadmap with Libya, identified as a central interlocutor for reopening stable dialogue, especially in relation to Mazara del Vallo, one of Italy’s most important fishing communities.
The point is not to imagine simplistic solutions. Nobody can believe that decades of critical issues can be overcome with a declaration of intent. Precisely for this reason, however, the conference had one clear merit: it shifted the discussion from merely denouncing problems to identifying possible instruments. Crew safety, access to fishing areas, protection of resources, scientific cooperation and relations with the Government of Tripoli were addressed as parts of the same scenario, not as separate questions.
The presence of Dr Saber Alazabi, Libyan Deputy Minister of Marine Resources and second Vice-President of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, gave the meeting a more concrete value. Libya remains an essential point of reference for fishing in the Central Mediterranean. For Sicily, and for Mazara in particular, relations with that shore cannot be addressed only when crises erupt. They require continuity, dialogue, rules and trust.
The most technical contribution came from Professor Roberto Ruoppo of the Polytechnic University of Marche, who identified two central critical issues. The first concerns the legal fragmentation of the Mediterranean. In a relatively small sea bordered by many States, the progressive definition of exclusive economic zones, protected fishing zones, environmental zones and other forms of maritime delimitation has redesigned the operational space of fishing fleets.
For those who work at sea, these definitions are not distant legal formulas. They can affect routes, fishing areas, activity planning, risks of disputes and crew safety. If not governed through shared instruments, the fragmentation of the Mediterranean can become a source of daily uncertainty for businesses and seafarers.
The second critical issue concerns regulatory and diplomatic inertia. The conservation of marine biological resources under the Common Fisheries Policy falls within the exclusive competence of the European Union. This means that agreements with third countries must operate within a European framework. However, when partnership agreements with some North African countries are missing, operational gaps emerge and weigh especially on the most exposed fleets.
This is where EU Regulation 2017/2403, on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets, becomes particularly relevant. The regulation also governs direct authorisations for fishing activities in waters under the jurisdiction of third countries when there is no partnership agreement between the European Union and that State.
This passage is decisive because it allows the issue to be approached with greater concreteness. It is not about bypassing rules or creating shortcuts. On the contrary, such a path requires authorisations, controls, consistency with the legal framework of the third country, scientific assessments on sustainability, and the involvement of both the Member State and the European Commission. Cooperation is therefore not presented as a generic aspiration, but as a possibility to be verified within a regulated framework.
This was the most interesting message to emerge from Mazara: dialogue with Libya cannot be limited to emergency management. It must become preventive, orderly and transparent work, capable of involving institutions, fishing companies, sector representatives, the scientific community and international organisations. Only in this way can the Central Mediterranean stop being perceived exclusively as a space of risk and return to being also a space of opportunity.
Sustainability, from this perspective, is not an accessory issue. Talking about access to resources also means talking about fish stocks, controls, legality, traceability and the fight against illegal fishing. Any hypothesis of collaboration must rest on scientific foundations and shared responsibility, because without sustainability there is no economic future for fishing and without safety there is no dignified work for crews.
Mazara del Vallo remains a privileged observatory of this complexity. The city knows the Mediterranean not through maps, but through the life of its fishing fleets. For this reason, the conference had a value that went beyond a single day. It tried to bring together what is often discussed separately: law, diplomacy, fishing, safety, economy and cooperation.
The question now is whether this approach will find continuity. Politics will have to play its part, because no roadmap can be built without stable institutional dialogue. But the fishing system, too, is called upon not to stand still, to better understand the instruments available and to think in terms of planning, not only emergency response.
A clear message therefore comes from Mazara: the Central Mediterranean does not need new oppositions, but clearer rules and more mature relations. Libya cannot be seen only as a problem to be managed when tensions reignite. If there is political will and if adequate legal pathways are built, it can become an interlocutor with which to develop cooperation useful to fishing, safety and sustainability.
The sea that for years has separated can return to connecting. But for this to happen, words are not enough. What is needed is method, responsibility and the courage to transform dialogue into a concrete path.
L’articolo From Mazara, a Roadmap for the Central Mediterranean proviene da Pesceinrete.
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