Suchergebnisse

This report summarises the progress in the first two years of the FarFish project in collecting and compiling biological, ecological and fisheries dependent and fisheries independent data relevant for the project case studies. The report follows up on similar report that was published after the first year of the project. During the first year of FarFish, some modifications in the objectives occurred, resulting in changes in the species which the case studies focus at. For example, in the Cape Verde and Seychelles case studies, the focus shifted to by-catch species that are not assessed by the Regional Management Fisheries Organizations (RMFOs) i.e. the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC). Lists of species for each case studies have been drawn up, sources of data identified, contacts have been made with RMFOs and DG MARE, and data compiled. Data compilation has been largely driven by the FarFish Data Base (FFDB) template. On the other hand, other data required for visualization purposes, especially time series, is also being compiled or requested. A formal data request was prepared for DG MARE, while coastal state case study participants were requested to provide data for the FFDB. Data from DG MARE has been received. Talks are also ongoing with RFMOs, especially CECAF, regarding data acquisition and how FarFish can contribute or add value to assessment and management. Acquisition of NANSEN cruise data has proved difficult. Numerous attempts and initiatives have been made, but to date, these have proved largely unsuccessful.

One of the key objectives of the FarFish project is: "To advance knowledge and collate data related to biological characteristics of the main fish stocks in selected fisheries outside EU waters that are important for the EU fleet, and to evaluate the relevance and applicability of appropriate stock assessment methods for these fisheries." In this context, the review and evaluation of stock assessment models used in the different Case Studies and the status of the stocks is one of the primary objectives of the project. The FarFish project has therefore published this report, which contains a review the stock assessment carried out for the target species in each of the case study areas.

More than 20% of the European fishing fleets catches are taken from non-European waters. Access to these waters is often based on agreements with coastal states that allow the EU fleet to fish from surplus stocks in return for financial support. These agreements have been subjected to criticism, as these fisheries are sometimes poorly regulated and management decisions are often based on limited knowledge, compliance, and enforcement capabilities. It is also too often the case that trust between stakeholders is lacking. The aim of the FarFish project is to overcome these hurdles. The FarFish project is designed around six case study areas in which the European fleet is actively engaged in fishing activities, including Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal and Seychelles, as well as the international high-seas areas in the southeast and southwest Atlantic. Among the Research & Innovation outputs of the FarFish project is a development of a management approach where the management authorities and the resource users come to an agreement on some key objectives and how to meet them. This approach is designed to reduce micromanagement by involving stakeholders and increase the degree of co-management by delegating management responsibilities to resource users. The process is broken into a number of steps, which include a) the provision of guidelines on how to develop so called management recommendations (MRs), b) provision of an invitation from the authorities to the resource users to develop MRs, where overall objectives are established, c) development of MRs, d) third party audit of the MR, where the success of the MR is evaluated. Draft guidelines and MR invitations have been published, and this report compiles the first proposals for MRs for each of the FarFish case studies. These will then be audited by an independent auditor and the whole process will then be re-iterated. The aim is that by the end of the project, we will have a tested / validated approach for how to manage fisheries in cocreation between ...

This report contains the 2nd management recommendation (MR) invitations submitted to the case studies in the FarFish project i.e. the high-seas fisheries in SW-Atlantic and SE-Atlantic, and the SFPA fisheries in Cape Verde, Senegal, Mauritania and Seychelles. The purpose of these MR invitations is to offer selected operators (resource users) the opportunity to develop MRs following the "second draft general guidelines for making MRs" presented in FarFish deliverable 3.5. The approach presented in the guidelines are based on principles of results-based management (RBM), where the responsibility for fisheries management is partly transferred to the resource users, provided that they meet with necessary requirements set forth by the authorities and provide documentation confirming implementation and achievement of specified management objectives. The advantages of such an approach include facilitation of more bottom-up style of management where the actual resource users and other stakeholders are involved. This approach is likely to increase the sense of ownership, by the resource users, in the management. Other advantages are for example increased transparency, as well as reduced costs and increased coverage of monitoring, control and surveillance. The MR invitations follow up on a pre-invitation dialogues where the basics of the approach have been introduced. The MR invitations include a short description of what is to be the focus of the MRs, identification of the main actors and their roles and responsibilities in the process, details on the current status of the fishery and finally the identification of so-called Outcome Targets (OTs) that are performance goals that the MRs are to meet.