BSRAC will hold its Salmon and sea trout Working Group on 2nd November in Gothenburg – invitation out very soon.
Commission and EP news and meetings
Here are some headlines from the meeting from BSRAC member Jesper Kobberø (ASECO):
Mediterranean
90 % of stocks are overfished. Some stocks by up to 400%. The data is poor and around Corsica there's absolutely no data.
Key points:
Get better knowledge.
There are many things to be done, more species need to be assessed.
Length of fish landed is today below the optimal length.
The socio-economic consequences are fatal.
Radical solutions are required and the challenge lies in sharing stocks with non EU countries.
There are challenges for data: different data is reported to different institutions (i.e. FAO; EU). Standardisation of data is required.
The basis for calculations is poor - not very much historical data is available.
Discards - very little data is available on this
The economy of the fishery
There is insufficient reporting of data from some member states - the biggest problems are with Spain and Greece.
140,000 are employed in the fishery - mostly in Spain, with Italy in second place.
The value of landings (2009) was 6.4 billion Euros. As for volume of landings: Denmark has the biggest landings, but not in terms of value.
Spain’s fleet is the least sustainable in economic terms. Italy's is the most sustainable.
There's been a small increase in employment. Fleet volumes are falling.
There’s been an improvement in the collection of data and quality, but it’s still poor
There's no data at all on Greece from 2007 to 2009
Conclusions from the meeting
The quality of the data is poor
It's important to underline that there is a lack of cooperation between fishermen and science
When TACs are set, it's important to see whether they lead to discards.
Multi-species management plans need to be developed
Other factors than the way the fishery influences the size of the stocks should be included – e.g. environment, climate and effect of other sectors.
The latest news from Maria Damanaki – recently returned from the USA where she signed a historic statement pledging bilateral cooperation to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
The European Parliament Fisheries Committee should have held its latest committee meeting on 19th September. Unfortunately, there were a fire and an electric breakdown, so the Committee was postponed to this week. This was the agenda:
From the BSRAC we’re waiting to hear who would be appointed as rapporteur to deal with the proposal on the long-term management plan for salmon. But we’re still waiting……
Conference on the opportunities and first achievements of Axis 4 of the EFF, “Sustainable futures for fisheries areas" on 3rd and 4th November 2011 in Brussels.
DG MARE has invited the BSRAC to send one representative of our institution to take part in this event. We’ve been sent the official invitation letter from the European Commission which explains the purpose and aims of the conference, as well as provisional programme and the workshops themes. See them all here:
AIPCE-CEP: The importers/exporters and processors annual meeting on Bornholm 8th September 2011
The EU Fish Processors and Traders Association and the EU Federation of National Organisations of Importers and Exporters of Fish held their annual General Assembly on Bornholm this year. The BSRAC was represented by the Secretariat. Their press release basically sums up the key theme that went through the meeting: the reliance on supplies to their industries - from whatever source, be it EU or outside the EU - to meet the growing demand by EU consumers for fish and fish products. And the major concern is to ensure that CFP reform does not jeopardise the flow of supplies of materials from outside the EU. Whilst recognising the importance of EU production (from fishery and aquaculture), the meeting stressed that the reliance on imports has increased to 62% for 2010. So there has to be a balance.The AGM dealt with the usual business of activity reports from the various working groups set up under AIPCE-CEP. Look out for the latest version of the so-called Finfish Study 2011, which will be officially available soon. The dominance of imports remains a key matter for AIPCE-CEP. A noteworthy reference in the report is to the positive trend in global quotas for whitefish species after a period of more precautionary approach in the past decade – and this includes important EU species such as Baltic cod – as recovery plans begin to take effect. The influence of certification schemes such as MSC is also mentioned. You’ll find the finfish report at some stage here:
Get your hands on a publication called “Fischbeständeonline,“with specific information in German on the stock situation for various species. It’s based on the ICES advice sheets, and gives an overview which is put to use by the marketing and processing sector in German. Check it out here (German only, but nice one vTI): http://fischbestaende.portal-fischerei.de/
It’s environment friendly week in Sweden week 40 (starting 3rd October 2011). See here, sorry Swedish only:
WWF Baltic Consensus Initiative Meeting 12th-13th October 2011 in Stockholm, Sweden
WWF is holding a launch meeting for the ‘Baltic Consensus’ on 12-13 October in Stockholm. The ‘Baltic Consensus’ is an initiative designed to secure the input of key resource ‘users’ to influence and promote a more efficient, integrated planning and management of the Baltic Sea. This launch meeting will feature the diverse perspectives of key stakeholders such as public and private sector and civil society representatives. It will also lay the groundwork for developing joint recommendations to influence the future development and protection of the Baltic Sea region.
Germany invites to a meeting on Natura 2000 13th October, Bonn 2011
An invitation has been sent to member states, Commission and three RACs (BSRAC, PELRAC and NSRAC) to a meeting for Germany to present and discuss the proposed scientific fisheries management measures under NATURA 2000 in the German exclusive economic zone (EEC) in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. More on this later………………….
Employment, working conditions, safety – Conference on the social pillar of the EU Maritime Policy – Brussels, November 7th 2011
On November 7th 2011, Brittany Region, in association with IMP (Maritime Prevention Institute), and with the support of the CPMR (Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions), will organise a conference, in Brussels (Committee of Regions), on the social pillar of the EU Maritime policy – Safety and working conditions in the maritime sector in 2011.
With the EU Maritime Policy taking shape, the publication of a European Social Agenda for Maritime Transport and the reform of Common Fisheries Policy, where do we stand in terms of employment, working conditions, safey and training issues in the policies linked to sea?
Drawing on the territorial knowledge of the Maritime regions, the conference will propose study results, feedback from local stakeholders and high level presentations that will answer this question and give some proposals to guarantee the standard of jobs in the maritime sector in Europe with a view to achieving “Blue Growth”.
Renewal of the EU fisheries policy minimised bycatch and a ban on discards: Wednesday 23 November 2011, 13.00 – 17.15
Invitation sent to the BSRAC from Christina Stenberg, Swedish Seafood Award. Place: Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences, Grev Turegatan 16 Stockholm. See here:
Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2010/2011
Just sent to the BSRAC. This covers activities up to 31st March 2011. By that date, 250 fisheries were at some stage of assessment, up on 34% the year before. An there has been a dramatic increase in the use of the MSC ecolabel in the market place, with over 1,600 companies across 80 countries holding the MSC Chain of Custody. Global annual sales of MSC labelled seafood are now over US$ 2.5 billion at retail value.
The report outlines many of the projects that the MSC has worked with during the year.
And in October 2011 MSC is expected to publish a report which will have an analysis of the environmental impacts of the MSC’s fishery certification programme.
Put out a report on 15th September on the Baltic TACs and quotas proposal, which is now being dealt with in council working groups in Brussels. See here:
Comes their latest newsletter. They highlight two topical items:
A film about ghost fishing. On 23rd October on the Swedish TV channel TV4-Fakta at 18hrs you can see a documentary on “ghosts in the Baltic.” You can see a trailer here: http://youtu.be/hL9b5F581XA
2.And KIMO Baltic Sea invite you to the launch of a project called “fishing for litter,” on Friday 23rd September at 11hrs outside the Marine Centre in Simrishamn.
The newsletter will be number 4 in the series, to be uploaded here:
