Real Time and Area Closures

Cod avoidance measures such as real time closures and the use of highly selective gear, allow vessels to “buy-back” at least some of the 25% cut in days at sea imposed at the last December Council. Real time closures were trialled last year by the Scottish Executive and have been applied more extensively this year.

Discussions between the NFFO, Defra and MFA have centred on how to introduce a workable system of closures that would allow a days buy-back, tailored to conditions in English waters, with the least disruption to fishing operations and vessel viability.

Whilst supporting the use of real time closures as an alternative to blunt and largely ineffectual methods such as effort control, the Federation has been concerned to:

• Limit the size of closed areas to ensure that the displaced fleets have viable alternative fishing opportunities
• Limit the number of closed areas in any single ICES square
• Place a cap on the number of closures at any one time
• Ensure that the criteria for triggering a closure are fair and reasonable
• Ensure particular protection for vessels operating within the 12 mile zone, given their generally limited range and economic vulnerability
• Provide clear exemptions for scallopers, potters and pelagic vessels which do not catch cod and which therefore should not be prevented from fishing within closed areas
• Ensure that there is clear advice on when and where closures have been applied

In June the MFA applied 9 closed areas in the central and southern North Sea. These closures were based on 2008 catch data which provided an indication of where the most dense concentrations of cod might be found:

• These area closures will be review monthly and replaced with more relevant areas depending on the data which shows areas in which historically (2008) there have been high concentrations of cod.
• A system of real time closures will run in parallel to the area closures based on historical catch data
• If a real time closure is triggered by logbook information / boardings by the Navy, in an area adjacent to an existing closed area then the existing closed area will be removed.
• Inside the 12 mile limit the closures will be 20 square miles in size rather than the 50 square miles that applies outside 12 miles
• Real time closures will apply from the date that they are triggered until the end of that calendar month
• Inside the 12 mile limit economic impact zones will be applied if it is deemed that the closures would be too disruptive to the local fleets
• The closures will apply to the central and southern North Sea and the Eastern English Channel. The large seasonal closure in the Irish Sea has so far precluded consideration of RTCs in the Irish Sea, not least because it is already a relatively small, restricted, stretch of water

An important context for these discussions is the ongoing negotiations between EU and Norway on a mandatory Real Time Closure system for the North Sea. If agreement is reached this could apply from 1st September 2009. The NFFO is lobbying these talks intensively to ensure that the new measures are reasonable.