2 September 2011
The Federation is gearing up for an extremely busy autumn
Although the number of stocks under long term management plans is increasing, theoretically reducing the significance of the December Council, the Commission’s suggestion that all stocks suffering from “data deficiencies” should be subject to a 25% reduction in TAC, ensures that we will have to fight to block this perverse and entirely counterproductive approach.
At the same time, the STECF/ICES report on the EU Cod Management Plan points to the need for serious changes and the first issue to address is what kind of interim arrangements should apply for 2012 given that the present pre-programmed reductions delivers high levels of discards. One of the clear lessons from an analysis of the current Plan is that a tailored approach is required for the Irish Sea.
Whilst ICES advice has now acknowledged the misalignment of the Celtic Sea cod TAC with the fish on the grounds, there is frustration at the slow response from the Commission to requests for a mid-year increase in the TAC. However, it is not difficult to see there is also mounting pressure for the adoption of accompanying technical measures to improve selectivity in the main fisheries which catch amounts of cod. All this will require extensive input from industry organisations, including the NFFO and the RACs if we are to avoid blunt and inappropriate requirements. The Federation will also be playing a significant part in the development of a long term management plan for the demersal fisheries in the Celtic Sea.
Consideration of the management measures that should apply within marine conservation zones and SACs is coming to a head along with the consequences of fleet displacement if the process fails to deliver a balanced and well founded approach. At these can range from additional monitoring to complete closure to fishing vessels, how the issue will be dealt with will be critical.
On the shellfish front, Defra is keen to move forward to address latent capacity through the extension of a rights-based system to the crab and lobster fisheries. This needs a great deal of thinking through to get the right balance between progressive conservation and flexibility for the inshore fleets and the Federation’s Shellfish Committee will be working to strike the right balance.
The consultation exercise on how to address the quota shortage facing some under-10 metre fisheries has turned a spotlight on the wide variety of views even within the inshore sector. Making progress in moving towards a system that delivers viability, stability and flexibility requires a great deal of work and the Federation will be at the heart of those discussions.
The NFFO is involved in four regional advisory councils: North Sea; North West Waters; Pelagic and Long Distance RACs. The RACs have proved themselves as an effective platform for cooperation and collaboration on a regional basis, involving fishing organisations from other member states as well as other stakeholder groups. The workload is heavy but the tangible results can be seen in the emergence of solid advice on long term management plans, cod recovery, discard reduction, CFP reform, maximum sustainable yield and dialogue with ICES etc.
Although the main discussions on CFP reform aren’t expected to take place until after the year end, Defra and the RACs are already working on and refining their positions and it is important that we are centrally involved in both. All parties seem to agree on the urgent need to decentralise decision making within the CFP but there is great uncertainty about the detail of how this will be achieved and what it will look like.
The threat posed by a drift into a concordat with Scotland that lacks transparency but could amount to the biggest change to domestic fisheries policy for years and disenfranchise the English and Northern Irish fleets will continue to be strenuously resisted.
The media attention on the discards issue generally fails to explain that discards in our fisheries have been reduced by 50% over that last decade, debunking the myth that nothing is being done. Nevertheless, the challenges to the reputation of our industry caused by those fisheries with high levels of discards, not to mention the waste of the resource, demands our serious engagement to ensure that discard initiatives tackle the real problems and avoid the media-focused sticking plaster approach. A good first step would be to avoid adding to the rules that in themselves generate discards.
Round 3 wind-farms and other offshore renewable projects have the potential to displace fishing activity from its customary grounds on a temporary or permanent basis. The Federation is working with the Crown Estate to identify the most critical fishing areas with precision so that they can be fully taken into account in the design of the projects through all their phases.
Ministers will never stray far from the science when making policy decisions, not least because it provides cover for difficult decisions and for when things subsequently go wrong. That is why it is vital to ensure that the science is as good as it can possibly be and why the Federation has taken the lead in initiatives to plug some of the holes in the present stock assessments.
The implementation and enforcement of fisheries policy is as important as the original decisions and that is why the NFFO maintains a regular dialogue with the Marine Management Organisation.
Zero TACs are applied where, as with skates and some shark species, there is a problem with the conservation status of some species and the Commission has no immediate remedy to hand. A zero TAC provides the illusion of remedial action. The reality is that this type of approach has next to no impact on fishing mortality but does generate discards. In addition to skate, porbeagle shark and spurdog find themselves in this position. The Federation will be working this autumn within a NWWRAC Focus Group on customised approaches that genuinely rebuild depleted stocks and move away from cosmetic measures that generate discards. This is not an easy or straightforward task but experience within the RACs has shown that getting people who know what they are talking about rarely fails to generate useful initiatives.
The EU/ Norway annual agreement is of direct importance to many of the Federation’s members and so as usual we will be devoting much effort to its outcome
Mackerel
Where the Federation can add to the pressure for a satisfactory outcome of the highly damaging mackerel dispute between the EU and Iceland and Faeroes it will be putting its shoulder to the wheel.
Marine Spatial Planning
The first two marine spatial plans are in currently in preparation. It is essential that the fishing industry’s concerns and interests are fully integrated into this process, which is why the NFFO will be devoting time and resources to covering the key meetings.
And the Rest
A short note like this skates unfairly over all the other issues and initiatives that the Federation is constantly involved in, such as monitoring and commenting on all incoming safety and training legislation and responding to various consultations with the industry’s concerns and viewpoint. This bread and butter work is of direct benefit to all in the fishing industry but rarely gets the dues it deserves.
Free Riders
One of the frustrations faced by the Federation is that the benefits of all this work are felt across the industry irrespective of whether or not the vessel pays a membership subscription to the NFFO. There is little that can be done about this problem if shame and embarrassment don’t work, although it is also heartening that so many fishermen and vessel operators, large and small, are willing to play their part.