The 'common European pond' stretches through 30°of latitude
from the northernmost areas of the Gulf of Bothnia to the Straits
of Gibraltar including substantial parts of the Mediterranean. It
encompasses a geographically vast area with diverse interests
across all nations interested in its fisheries resources. As such,
it cannot be reasonably controlled by such a single harmonised
policy. The fleets working the nearshore areas of the Mediterranean
are very different from those working in the northern North Sea,
and a single policy will prove too blunt to manage either
appropriately. A more ecologically and politically sensitive
regional seas approach to the management of fisheries within EU
waters is required in order to provide a more rational basis for
policy development.
Within the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), there is now the
provision for a move towards a regional seas approach to fisheries
management, enabling a more transparent and participative approach
to fisheries management. The proposal from the European Commission
is the decentralisation and delegation of management advice through
the creation of separate Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) for each
of the EC's 'regional seas'. These will be at the scale of, for
example, the North Sea or Irish Sea.
The RACs will be given responsibilities and powers to
recommend detailed management policies with respect to their
particular regional seas based on ICES advice. Recommendations made
would need to reflect the aims and objectives of the CFP and the
guidelines for responsible fishing established by the Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Each recommendation would be
forwarded for ratification through the Commission to the Council of
Ministers. The Council of Ministers would normally be expected to
approve the RAC's recommendation except where there is evidence
that it fails to comply with CFP aims and objectives. Likewise,
approval may not be granted where RAC recommendations are
incompatible with the management of a neighbouring regional
sea.
Pelagic trawler at seaIn those areas where the regional sea is shared between the EC
and other countries, the regional RACs would form an initial
contact point for the joint negotiation of important management
parameters. These would include the technical measures, access
rights, resource allocations, and other measures needed to conserve
the marine ecosystems, their habitats and species. The same
principle of co-operation can be extended even further into the
joint management of trans-boundary stocks, including highly
migratory species and deep sea fisheries located on the continental
slopes.
Recently, The North Sea Commission Fisheries Partnership, a
group containing representatives from the fisheries industry and
fisheries scientists, as well as environmental organizations and
recreational fisheries representatives, has set up a shadow RAC for
the management of North Sea fisheries, with the aim of becoming the
first official RAC. The principal objective of the shadow RAC will
be to prepare and provide advice on the management of North Sea
fisheries on behalf of stakeholders in order to achieve successful
application of the CFP.
We continue to advocate the devolution of management of
territorial waters to local arrangements (i.e.
within 0-12
mile limits). Recently, the UK government have advocated a
regionalisation of UK fisheries management structures to mirror the
RACs. This will help bridge the gap between national and European
interests. For example, in April 2004, the 'Invest in Fish South
West' initiative was launched. This three year project focuses on
the Celtic Sea and English Channel, aiming to provide a long term
strategy for managing fishing on a regional basis, taking locally
important characteristics into account. This initiative provides a
unique 'bottom-up' approach, where the stakeholders (including
fishermen, processors, retailers, recreational fishermen,
restauranteurs and governmental and non-governmental organisations)
will examine a variety of scenarios for managing the region's
fisheries and present their preferred option to the UK
government.
It is only through a regional seas policy with more localised
decision making that the industry can achieve:
- ecologically sensitive and rational strategies for the
management of marine resources;
- flexibility of management response in relation to increasing
uncertainties affecting the underlying condition of fisheries
resources;
- greater transparency of decision making within a partnership of
science, administration, user groups and conservation
interests.
We have long supported a regional seas approach and further
detail on our thinking on the approach may be found in our
reports.