Current fisheries management
The main tools used to manage fisheries are:
- Limitation on amounts of fish landed (quotas)
- Limitation on gear usage (either type of gear, or nature of the
gear itself)
- Limitation on total effort deployed (effort = number of vessels
x fishing days)
All of the above tools may be applied to specific areas and
times.
At present, most fisheries management is based on the size and
distribution of stocks of individual fish species. The above tools
are deployed in order to attempt to keep fish stocks above a "safe
biological level". In north-west European waters, management of
fisheries has failed in many cases to meet this objective, leading
to less fish being available for fishermen to catch or processors
to prepare for human consumption.
Fish stocks within waters belonging to member states of the
European Union are managed under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
Under this policy, Total Allowable Catch (TAC) is set annually for
each species and this is divided up into national quotas for member
states. The problem with management by TAC and quotas is that even
after the TAC of a particular species has been reached, they will
still continue to be caught by vessels targeting other species – in
mixed species fisheries this leads to high levels of
discarding of
useful fish and provides a strong incentive for illegal landings.
The introduction of the new CFP in January 2003 has lead to a move
towards a more long term approach to stock management and
maintenance with the adoption of an
ecosystem
approach to management and the use of the
precautionary principle.
As part of this and based on the most recent scientific advice
available, the European Commission has:
- Implemented cod and northern hake stock recovery plans, with
recovery plans for southern hake, sole (Western Channel and Bay of
Biscay), haddock (Rockall) and Norway lobster (Canatabrian Sea and
western Iberian Peninsula) being developed
- Proposals for a community action plan to reduce discards of
fish have been submitted
- Regulations have been introduced to reduce cetacean bycatch
which involve the use of 'pingers' on gill nets.
- Introduced emergency protection for the Darwin Mounds, an area
for the deep water coral Lophelia pertusa, with permanent
protection from August 2004.
- In February 2004, other deep water coral sites in the Azores,
Madeira and the Canary Islands were also proposed for
protection
- Development of the Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) is
underway
Scientific advice has consistently indicated that
effort
reductions and controls that decrease the amount of juveniles
caught would aid recovery of fish stocks and are required if
management is to meet its targets. If fisheries were managed to
meet the targets based on fish stocks alone, there is no doubt that
the wider marine environment would probably also be in a better
state. However, such management would not meet all
wider
objectives.