Policy background of Data Collection and Analysis in the Formulation of Scientific Advice

Probably the most important contribution to the failure of earlier fisheries management was the combined effects of short-term and single-species approaches derived, mostly, from lack of good scientific data. It is now widely accepted that long-term sustainable resource management must factor in ecological and socio-economic elements in addition to transparent and logical governance. A move to this regimen marked a major shift in emphasis from the short-term, single species to a longer-term approach based on multi-annual plans targeting not one species but a group of interdependent species. It had become apparent from the early 1990s that the simplistic management techniques employed by the European Union up to that point were not adequate for the complex fisheries being accessed by Member States.

Not alone were several important fisheries becoming commercially unviable but there was increasing concern that many species were in danger of being fished down below safe biological limits. In a series of Communications and information documents²³, the Commission signaled its intention to move to multi-annual management plans which would take into account the need to conserve bio-diversity and minimize the impact on habitats. On 1 January 2003 the re-vamped Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was launched with the stated aim that it "shall ensure exploitation of living aquatic resources that provides sustainable economic, environmental and social conditions"¹.

Having signed up to the United Nations Convention on Biological Biodiversity (CBD) in 1993, the EU has a legal obligation to ensure that the principles of the CBD are observed and that action plans are in place to meet the 2010 deadline to halt the increasing rate of loss of biodiversity.⁴ In conjunction with this programme, the European Council adopted the first EU Sustainable Development Strategy in Göteborg (2001)⁵ which was reinforced by the resolution at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)⁶ in Johannesburg in 2002 to "maintain or restore stocks to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield.

The ecosystem-based marine management required to enable the European Community to fulfill these commitments is infinitely more sophisticated than anything heretofore. Not alone is data required on fish catches but discards, grades, by-catch, CPUE (catch per unit effort), the physical conditions - oceanographic and meteorological, and the socio-economic factors need to be added to the equation. In practical terms it is very difficult to collect sufficient data of acceptable quality to meet the standards needed by fishery managers.

How is Data Collected?

Member States are now obliged to submit an annual National Data Collection Programme and assure the collection of data on a range of activities such as fishing capacity, fishing effort, catches, landings and discards, catch per unit effort, survey results, economic data relating to the fishing fleets and the processing industry. These information gathering activities are regulated via the Data Collection Regulation (DCR)⁷ and go a long way towards more extensive, uniform and comparable data on which scientifically accurate fishery-based management plans can be based.

Log Books: Since the introduction of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in 1983, there has been a requirement for recording fish catches in a standard community format. Initially, this was done by completing paper records at the time of landing. Now skippers maintain catch records at sea while fishing. Though primarily intended for monitoring and enforcement, there is a considerable amount of data on catches and fish stocks available from this source.

Electronic Surveillance Technology: Fisheries management plans will always contain an element of uncertainty but the increasing availability of electronic technology will play an ever more important part in reducing the guesswork when accurate conclusions and predictions need to be made. It is very important, particularly when a fishery is exploited by more than one party, that the monitoring is accurate and comparable

The introduction of the electronic log book is expected to greatly improve the value of information being used to formulate scientific advice by

• Enabling fishery managers to respond on a daily basis to actual European fleet performance
• Enabling fishery managers to develop and demonstrate a common means of resource management and enforcement across Europe's fishing fleets. This will reassure all European fishery stakeholders that a standard measure is being applied
• The system will help policy-makers make more timely decisions to ensure that appropriate management action is taken to safeguard the long-term sustainability of fish stocks

Research Projects/Observers: A great deal of data is collected by individual researchers who go on fishing trips and carryout basic sampling. This data is, in itself, usually excellent quality but the entire process is time consuming and expensive. The data thus collected has to be collated and assessed by many other scientists before any conclusions can be arrived at. Historically, the useful data obtained by these methods has been limited to a relatively small number of species in restricted areas. The data used by the scientists has been out of date before they can make use of it - many new fisheries, such as those deep-water fisheries west of Europe have very little data available making reliable scientific advice very difficult to formulate. 

The types of fisheries most likely to suffer from lack of good data are

• Small scale fisheries with usually several target species of otherwise mixed fisheries (many coastal fisheries in Mediterranean and northern Baltic areas)
• Large scale, but recently developed fisheries (many deep sea fisheries belong to this group)
• Large scale fisheries, where the quality of data is getting worse (poor data due to e.g. misreporting and discarding) ⁸

There is a current trend towards developing a database approach where available data will be compiled in a consistent manner; protocols will be developed to ensure all data is collected and reported in a standardized fashion. Computer modeling will then enable scientists and fishery managers to make accurate predictions for a whole range of fisheries and associated ecosystems.

Summaries

The summaries (Technical Leaflets) relating to the role of data collection and analysis in the formulation of scientific advice are:

• A central database for research vessel surveys [DATRAS]
• The Fish Technology Knowledge Base [FISH-TECH-DB]
• Improving the scientific basis for Atlantic mackerel fisheries management [GBMAF]
• A strategy for the development of a novel survey trawl [SURVEYTRAWL]

Footnotes

1. Council Regulation (EC)2371/2002. 20 December 2002. On the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy. Official Journal of the European Union, L358(31/12/2002) (2002) 59-80.

2. European Commission-Fisheries: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/publications/reform_en.htm

3. Communication from the Commission on the Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. "Roadmap". 2002

4. Convention on Biological Biodiversity. Rio de Janeiro, June 1992. .http://www.cbd.int/convention/convention.shtml

5. "A Sustainable Europe for a Better World: A European Strategy for Sustainable Development" COM(2001) 264 final

6. UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, Aug/Sept 2002

7. Council Regulation (EC)1543/2000. 29 June 2000. Establishing a Community framework for the collection and management of the data needed to conduct the common fisheries policy. Official Journal of the European Union, L176(15/07/2000) 1-16  and

Commission Regulation (EC) 1639/2001. 25 July 2001. Establishing the minimum and extended Community programmes for the collection of data in the fisheries sector and laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC)1543/2000. Official Journal of the European Union, L222(17/08/2001) (2001) 53-115

8. POORFISH: Probabilistic assessment, management and advice model for fisheries management in the case of poor data availability. http://www.poorfish.eu/