Policy background of Fisheries and Aquaculture Management and the Conservation of Species Diversity

Since the early 1970's many environmental and conservation groups have highlighted their concerns regarding the impact of human activities on the natural world and these concerns are not limited to the merely aesthetic but to the long-term consequences of misuse of natural resources. As various ecosystems have come under scrutiny, one of the trends which emerged has been a gradual, but accelerating, decline in biodiversity. Biodiversity, or species diversity, describes the range of organisms found in a given ecological community or system and it is the culmination of millions of years of evolution - it enables many different life forms to live together in an interdependent balance which involves each organism exploiting its space in a slightly different way and is one of the most important life forces known.

Over the years there have been calls for greater control and better management of the environment at such gatherings as the conventions of Barcelona, Helsinki and many others. This culminated in 1992 with the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,¹ at which a treaty was drawn up to establish, in law, the conservation of biological diversity as a common concern of humankind. The treaty, to be known as the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, was signed up to by many countries and international organisations of which the European Community was one.

The Convention establishes three main goals:

• The conservation of biological diversity
• The sustainable use of its components
• Sharing the benefits arising from the commercial and other uses of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way

Signatories of the Convention are obliged to draw up strategies and action plans to ensure the conservation and sustainability of the biodiversity of all environments they are responsible for. The EU has complied with its obligations with regard to the marine environment in two ways:

• The European Community Biodiversity Strategy (ECBS): in 1998 the EU adopted a strategy for improved integration of environmental protection into the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)²
• Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPS): in 2001 the EU adopted sectoral action plans, one of which was for fisheries, which define the specific actions needed and the setting of quantifiable targets

The impetus initiated by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 has been carried forward in a number of ways. In 1998 the OSPAR Commission adopted a new Annex V "On the Protection and Conservation of the Ecosystems and Biological Diversity of the Maritime Area" its objective being not alone to protect and conserve, but to restore marine areas already damaged.³ In 2001, EU Heads of State and Government made a commitment at the EU's Spring Summit in Gothenburg to 'halt the decline of biodiversity by 2010'⁴. In 2002 this commitment was endorsed by world leaders at the meeting of the Conference of Parties to the CBD and again at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.⁵

The same Gothenburg Council also adopted the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (which contains the headline objective "to protect and restore habitats and natural systems and halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010") and the Sixth Environmental Action Programme (6^th EAP) which indicates priorities for the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Strategy.

In 2004 the Malahide conference was organized to finalise a year long consultative process overseen by the EU which was intended to assess the effectiveness of the ECBS to date and identify priorities towards meeting the 2010 deadline.  The research community was engaged through the European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy (EPBRS) and in particular through the Irish Presidency meeting of the EPBRS entitled ‘Sustaining Livelihoods and Biodiversity - Attaining the 2010 targets in the European Biodiversity Strategy' held in Killarney from 21^st to 24^th May 2004.⁶  The Killarney meeting adopted a declaration and recommendations on biodiversity research which were subsequently endorsed at Malahide (25-27 May 2004).⁷

The Killarney and Malahide conferences considered all aspects of the biodiversity programme; the specific message regarding fisheries was contained in OBJECTIVE 7: To further promote conservation and sustainable use of commercial stocks and to continue reduction of adverse impacts of fishing and aquaculture on species and habitats making full use in particular of the CFP instruments. Objective 7 was further elaborated with a list of eleven targets one of which was "Technical measures, including marine protected areas, effectively implemented to help ensure favourable conservation status of marine habitats and species not commercially exploited, in line with the process initiated at the Dundalk Conference including measures aimed at the reduction of unwanted by-catch and of damage to the benthos".  The Dundalk Conference, in March 2004 was a Ministerial and Stakeholders Conference also held under the auspices of the Irish Presidency and explored the theme "Fast Tracking the Development of Environmentally-Friendly Fishing Methods"⁸

The commitment of the EU to the Convention on Biological Diversity is also underpinned by legislation such as Council Directive 92/43/EEC⁹ and Council Directive 79/409/EEC¹⁰ and by EU support for the many other global, pan-European and national organisations which are working towards the goal of halting the decline of biodiversity.

Incorporation of Environmental Performance in the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)

The integration of environmental performance into the CFP was a priority for the European Commission as part of the Reform of the original 1983 CFP. Progress was made at many Council meetings from 1997 onwards; at the Gothenburg meeting in June 2001 it was recorded that the process of integration of environmental concerns in sectoral (fisheries) policies must continue and provide an environmental input to the EU Sustainable Development strategy.

The Commission presented its ambitious CFP reform proposals in May 2002 and at the same time published a Communication and action plan outlining the main objectives, principles, means, targets and timetables to enable the CFP to address environmental issues. At the Malahide Conference in May 2004 it was recommended that reports on the progress of environmental integration in the CFP be made available in 2005, 2007 and 2009.

Summaries

The summary (Technical Leaflet) relating to Incorporation of Environmental Performance in the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is:

• Incorporating environmental requirements into the CFP [INDECO]

Reconciliation Action Plans

Integrating good environmental practice and acknowledging the principles of maintaining biodiversity sometimes run into problems brought about the relationship between species in the wild, particularly if one of those species is of commercial value. Current conservation policies have led to an increase in populations of predators such as seals and cormorants which, in turn, has led to conflict between wildlife groups, environmentalists and fishermen.

Work in this area has concentrated on developing conflict management which encourages participation by all parties. The problems are often exacerbated by their trans-national nature but it has been found that a concerted approach which considers all factors such as the ecological, socio-economic, legal and, most importantly, stakeholder participation, can produce consistent results. Good conservation requires good management and not only of the animal stocks.

Summaries

The summaries (Technical Leaflets) relating to Reconciliation Action Plans are:

• The impact of fishery discarding rates on seabird communities [DISCBIRD]
• Why local people should get involved in wetland management [IMEW]
• Reconciling fishermen and fish-eating vertebrates [FRAP]
• Reducing the conflict between Cormorants and fisheries on a pan-European Scale [REDCAFE]

Genetic Diversity

One of the most important underlying principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity is the implied protection of genetic integrity. With the introduction of aquaculture, there may be a danger that the cultivation of alien species may compromise the genetic make-up of indigenous species or may introduce disease or parasites which the local species cannot cope with.

The Malahide Conference recommended that appropriate environmental impact assessment techniques be applied to new aquaculture and new fisheries to identify impacts on biodiversity and these assessments acted on from 2004.

Summaries

The summaries (Technical Leaflets) relating to Genetic Diversity are:

• Investigating the genetic co-existence of fishing and aquaculture activities [GENIMPACT]
• Conserving the Atlantic herring's genetic diversity [HERGEN]
• The impact of salmon farming on the genetic variation in wild populations of Atlantic salmon and brown trout [SALIMPACT]
• Sea lice: a salmonid's tale [SUMBAWS]
• Describing the stock structure of herring in west European waters [WESTHER]

Invertebrates

The ecosystem approach to management of both marine fisheries and aquaculture pre-supposes that any management plan takes account of the invertebrate and benthic communities which may be impacted by that activity.  Fishing activity such as trawling can lead to considerable reduction in biomass of bottom-dwelling invertebrates and could potentially lead to depletion of the biodiversity of these habitats

Restocking: the Eel Case

Recommendation (The Malahide Conference, 2004): Restoration programmes for diadromous species (eg. eel, trout, salmon, sturgeon) designed and adopted in collaboration with the appropriate authorities and in close consultation with relevant stakeholders.

There has been a substantial decrease in the population of the European eel, (Anguilla Anguilla L.) in recent years. The eel has a complicated life cycle and it is still not clear at what point it is most vulnerable. Impact on the downstream migrating silver eel in fresh water is brought about by commercial fisheries and hazards such as hydro-electric generating plants while very little is known regarding that portion of the life-cycle spent at sea or what percentage of elvers (juvenile eels) reach maturity.

The EU has requested ICES to evaluate the feasibility of restocking as a measure to meet current stocking targets. It is not known to what extent this stock decline is due to the fishing and how much is due to environmental conditions. Restocking may be beneficial to rebuilding the stock, although this is unproven and may carry risks, but is not sufficient alone. Only a combination of several measures can be expected to bring the stock out of its current critical state. Such measures include cessation of fisheries, prevention of other anthropogenic mortality (e.g. pollution, mortality in turbines) and restoration of habitats. It is unlikely that sufficient glass eel (juveniles) can be captured in areas of abundance and used for restocking. ¹¹

Summaries

The summaries (Technical Leaflets) relating to Restocking: the Eel case are:

• Estimating the chance of recovery for the eel population [EELREP]
• The impact of fisheries and hydroturbines on the European eel population [SILVEREEL]
• A study leading to informed management of eels [SLIME]

Footnotes

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

2. Communication from the Commission setting out a Community Action plan to integrate environmental protection requirements into the CFP. COM (2002)186 final

3. OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic "Guidelines for the Identification and Selection of Marine Protected Areas in the OSPAR Maritime Area". June 2003

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

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

6. ‘Sustaining Livelihoods and Biodiversity - Attaining the 2010 targets in the European Biodiversity Strategy" Killarney, Ireland, May 2004

7. "Biodiversity and the EU - Sustaining Life, Sustaining Livelihoods" Stakeholders Conference, Malahide, Dublin, Ireland, May 2004

8. "Fast Tracking the Development of Environmentally-Friendly Fishing Methods", Ministerial and Stakeholders Conference, Dundalk, Ireland, March 2004

9. Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora Official Journal L 206 , 22/07/1992 P. 0007 - 0050

10. Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds. Official Journal L 103 , 25/04/1979 P. 0001 - 0018

11. ICES Answer to Special request on Restocking of European Eel: http://www.fiskeriverket.se/download/18.1490463310f1930632e8000331/Aal_ICES_syn.pdf