Fishermen, scientists and administrations of the European Atlantic arc are meeting to draw up sustainable fishing management strategies

By GEPETO, NWWRAC and CCR-S, Wednesday, 5th March 2014 | 0 comments
Filed under: 2014.

From the 25 to the 28 March, Dublin Castle will host the debate of the Advisory Councils of the North Western Waters and South Western Waters on the future of their fisheries. The event will bring together several fishing organisations from the Atlantic coast, and also the scientists and national administrations involved in the drawing up of sustainable management strategies for the future of their fisheries.

The objective consists in pooling the work carried out in three main fisheries selected as case studies within the GEPETO project, i.e. the Bay of Biscay, the mixed Iberian fisheries and the Celtic Sea fisheries. 

Thus, each Advisory Council will cover different subjects such as discards and the obligation to land fish, regionalisation of decision-making or the development of mixed fisheries management plans, not forgetting to review the current lines of work and to put forward proposals for 2014. Moreover, the new management tools designed by the GEPETO partners will be explained and a discussion with the representatives of the European Commission will take place in relation to the problems raised by the new reform of the CFP. 

Agenda of the meetings

In line with the proposed agenda, North West Waters Regional Advisory Council (NWWRAC) will meet on 25 and 26 March to propose recommendations for the key aspects of the reform of the CFP, such as collaboration with Member States in drawing up regional management plans. Also, a debate will be organised on the implementation of discard reduction strategies for the mixed demersal fisheries in fishing areas VI and VII. In parallel, meetings of specific working groups will be held on the fisheries of the west of Scotland, the Celtic Sea (in cooperation in the specific GEPETO case study) and the Irish Sea.

SWW RAC will devote the morning of the 27 to the meeting of the working group of fishing areas VIII and IX, involved in the case studies of the fisheries of the Bay of Biscay and the mixed Iberian fisheries.

The partners of the GEPETO project will bring these days to a close. On the 26th, they will start with a coordination meeting and another meeting on the Celtic Sea case studies in the framework of the meetings of the NWWRAC.

On the morning of the 27th, they will take part in the meetings of the case studies of the Bay of Biscay and the mixed Iberian fisheries. Then, in the afternoon, the complete version of the Fisheries Atlas drawn up by IFREMER (France) and the work carried out on the definition of management units, under the leadership of AZTI-Tecnalia (Spain) will be presented.

Finally, on the 28th, a workshop will be organised with the participation of all the parties interested by the implementation of long-term management plans for mixed fisheries. This activity will be managed by IPMA (Portugal) and will aim to define a roadmap for the application of these plans. 

The European Commission will be represented by members of DG MARE, who will present the public consultation on "The development of a new framework of technical measures in the reformed CFP" to the fishing sector.

Meeting in July

The conclusions of the GEPETO project will be presented on 8 and 9 July in Vigo, at a final seminar organised by the Sea Technology Centre - the CETMAR Foundation, coordinator of this initiative financed by the European Union.