Conclusions of the workshop - Dublin (North Atlantic Fisheries)
Core considerations:
- Complex legislation which attempts to deal with every problem individually eventually becomes unworkable.
- Enabling stakeholders to solve their own difficulties on a regional basis, while conforming to over-arching principles of sustainable fisheries management, has a greater chance of long-term success.
- Technical conservation measures (TCM) can improve selectivity, reduce discards, protect sensitive habitats and species, protect juveniles and spawning species but TCMs alone cannot replace catch and effort limitations or bring about stock recovery.
A. RTD (Practical)This workshop posed the question “Why are TCMs not working?” The response would seem to be TMs are too complex and made more so by recovery plans. Most legal gear is unselective; there is little to no encouragement for the adoption of responsible fishing practices, the catch composition regulations are impossible to implement.
Research has been widespread and extensive in a number of key areas such as gear selectivity, bottom impact, fuel efficiency, prevention of by-catch of non-target species and the survival and behaviour of certain target species. There have been several large European Commission funded projects, complemented by national research, which have considered many of these problems but largely from the “fire-fighting” perspective – projects set up when the problem has already passed the simple remedial phase.
To get better results research does not require a major change in direction:
- Future research projects need to take account of the multi-faceted problems created by multitude of drivers rather than a discrete one-problem, one-solution approach.
- Research problems on a local or regional basis and apply results on a wider scale rather than the other way about
- Real time data collection must be improved
- More use must be made of modelling to solve problems - it is speedy, inexpensive and flexible – as long as the original data is reliable.
B. Managerial/Commercial
The application of TCMs has been divisive and controversial. To make these measures work fishery managers have several options:
- Improve gear selectivity and reward responsible fishing
o Towed gears can be selectiveo But fishermen need to have an incentive to keep them selectiveo Static Gears are definitely more selective o But need regulation to stop effort increases
- Reduce complexity and remove ambiguity.
o Consolidate and improve existing regulationso Regulate things which are easily measured and limit things which are hard to measure
- Create a level playing field
- Change doctrine from regulating on landings to regulating on catches
Managers must commit to real and tangible incentives for responsible fishing – in return, fishermen must be pro-active and adopt more selective gears.
C. Social/Political
The need for simplification of the regulations was a constant thread running through this workshop. The participants felt Regulation 850/98 was too complex and efforts to simplify, such as the 2001 attempt at codification, were not successful. The continual amendments to this Regulation since it became law has led to an accumulation of provisions which have never been reviewed or evaluated, making it very difficult to understand and impossible to enforce. Also, it was enacted prior to the establishment of the RACs and does not lend itself to the increased regionalisation of fisheries management.
The EU Commission admits the shortcomings of this regulation and proposes
· Evaluation and deletion of irrelevant provisions
· More regional regulatory structure built around existing RAC areas
· Incorporation of environmental objectives
These proposals need to be under-pinned by incorporation of a mechanism to allow for regular review and adjustment, the inclusion of stakeholder initiatives in a timely manner and regional solutions to regional problems.
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Workshops 
