Myfish

Maximising Sustainability and Engaging Stakeholders: First Myfish Project Newsletter Now Available

Publication Announcement: December 2013

The first issue of Myfish Project News is now available. Read about the progress the Myfish project is making in its work to support the goals of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) here.

The Myfish project aims to provide an operational framework for the implementation of the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) concept in European waters. Its first newsletter provides an overview of the project’s progress so far, including feedback from partners and stakeholders.

Anna Rindorf of DTU Aqua (Denmark) is the project scientific coordinator: “The Myfish project is now entering the second of its three phases: i) definition of MSY variants and the models needed to evaluate these; ii) evaluation of the likely ecosystem and economic consequences of aiming for a specific version of MSY and finally, iii) an evaluation of the likely social impact of this decision. Approaching the completion of the first phase, we take this opportunity to report the most significant advances made to date.”

This issue also features previews of case studies undertaken by Myfish partners, AquaMarine Advisers (Sweden) and Innovative Fisheries Management (Aalborg University, Denmark). The case studies review existing and proposed MSY variants, constraints and management measures outside the EU. Stakeholders from Australia, Alaska and the Faroe Islands were interviewed to investigate various aspects of sound governance from which the EU can potentially learn. Detailed accessible summaries of the case studies are also available on the Myfish website.

The Centre for Development Innovation (CDI), Wageningen UR runs short annual courses in different areas of the fisheries sector for practicing professionals. These courses are useful for staff from both government and NGO who are working in fisheries management, research, higher education, training and fisheries development. The Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) offers scholarships for courses that are on offer in 2014:

Ecosystem approach to fisheries

Course to run Mon 22 September 2014 until Fri 10 October 2014

Deadline for applications with NFP: 04 February 2014

Deadline for applications without NFP: 11 August 2014

Introduction: Maintaining healthy ecosystems and a vibrant fishing sector is of paramount importance to all coastal regions in the world. Making sure that the interests of the fishery sector are considered and represented versus the claims and interests of other user groups, is one of the tasks of the fisheries manager. The ecosystem approach takes the wider ecosystem and its interactions with fisheries into consideration. Read more

Application: Interested candidates can apply to Centre for Development Innovation (CDI), Wageningen UR for admission to the training. Click here and then press the registration button on the webpage to apply.

The first pan-European platform representing small-scale fishermen has been funded by fishing organisations from 10 different EU countries.

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) organisation aims to represent, support, develop and defend low-impact fishing operations in coastal waters, with all members agreeing to be bound by a requirement to fish responsibly without damaging the marine environment, to use selective fishing gear and to avoid undersized fish. LIFE’s initial membership includes fishing organisations from Croatia, Greece, France, Spain, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Poland and Germany, with over 1,000 fishermen represented.

The organisation has received the backing of the EU Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki, who sent a supportive video message to the fishermen at its launch in Santiago de Compostela (Spain).

Read more here

The Myfish project, in collaboration with the Pelagic Regional Advisory Council (RAC), is organising a one-day regional workshop to consult stakeholders to identify the highest priority combinations of Maximum Sustainable Yield, constraints and management measures. The workshop will be held in Den Haag (The Netherlands) on the 6^th of February 2014.

The deadline for registration is the 2^nd of December 2013. Please note that there is a limited number of seats available for this workshop. If you are interested in attending please find details at the following link: http://www.pelagic-rac.org/0272/

The 2014-2020 European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) was voted on by the European Parliament (EP) on the 23^rd of October 2013.

The main point rejected by the vote was the proposed provision of public funding for vessel construction. Moreover, clear limits have been set on the amounts of public funding Member States can spend on fleets.

The EP also voted to double investment in data collection, control and regulation enforcement, which will help to rebuild stocks. The investment in small scale fisheries and aquaculture has also been increased.

The EMFF will provide €6.5 billion towards the fishing industry between 2014 and 2020. Negotiations on the final deal are expected to start in November.

Read the DG MARE press-release here

On the 25^th of October DG MARE will host the seminar ‘Implementation of the CFP reform’.

The moderator of the session will be DG MARE Director-General Ms. Lowri Evans.

The seminar will focus on regionalisation (morning session) and on landing obligation (afternoon session). During each session, time will be allocated for Questions & Answers.

For those interested, it will be possible to follow the seminar online.

The web-streaming will be available here

The EFCA Multiannual Work Programme for 2014-2018 was adopted on the 15^th of October 2013. The total budget for 2014 is €9,217,150, almost the same figure as 2013’s budget.

The EFCA will support the Member States and the European Commission in the implementation of the new Common Fisheries Policy.

To this aim, the EFCA will mainly focus on: i) the Joint Deployment Plans and ii) the support to Member States and the European Commission. The latter includes the development of IT projects that will improve and support data monitoring and networks; training; and horizontal support activities to the Member States, the European Commission and to the new Common Fisheries Policy, in cooperation with third countries and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations on Commission request.

Read the full press-release here

New Zealand scientists in collaboration with fishing companies have developed a highly selective trawl that prevents juveniles from being caught by allowing them to be sorted before being brought on board.

The 'Precision Seafood Harvesting' technology contains the fish comfortably underwater inside a large flexible PVC liner. This allows them to be sorted for the correct size and species before being brought on board the fishing vessel.

Read more and see the video here

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) publishes its annual 'UK Sea Fisheries Statistics 2012' report on the 26^th of September 2013.

The report includes detailed figures on the UK fishing fleet, the number of fishermen, the quantity and value of landings, international trade and the state of key fishing stocks.

The quantity of fish has increased, while the value has decreased, primarily due to a reduction in the average price of pelagic fish, driven by a fall in the market prices of mackerel.

The report highlights that in 2012:

• UK vessels landed 627,000 tonnes of sea fish (including shellfish) into the UK and abroad with a value of £770 million – a 5 per cent increase in quantity but a 7 per cent decrease in value compared with 2011.
• Landings of demersal fish increased by 1 per cent between 2011 and 2012, although the quantity has fallen by 24 per cent since 2002. Haddock – the highest caught demersal species landed by UK vessels – rose by nearly a fifth from 2011 to 35,000 tonnes. Pelagic and shellfish landings both increased by 7 per cent since 2011.
• Shellfish accounted for the largest share in terms of value (39 per cent). Demersal fish accounted for 34 per cent (down from 47 per cent in 2002) and pelagic fish accounted for 27 per cent.
• Shellfish also had the majority of landings by the UK fleet into England, Wales and Northern Ireland while pelagic fish had the highest share of landings into Scotland.
• The UK fishing fleet remained the sixth largest in the EU in terms of vessel numbers, with the second largest capacity and fourth largest power. 6,406 fishing vessels were registered with a total capacity of 201,000 GT and total power of 804,000 kilowatts.
• 69 % of the quantity landed by the UK fleet was caught by vessels over 24 metres in length – 4 per cent of the total number of UK vessels.
• Around 12,450 fishermen were reported as active in the UK. Of these, around 2,200 were part-time.
• Scottish vessels accounted for 58 per cent of the quantity of landings by UK vessels while English vessels accounted for 30 per cent. Peterhead remained the port with the highest landings – 106,000 tonnes.
• Imports of fish and processed fish rose to 754,000 tonnes, a 5 per cent increase from 2011. Over the same period, exports increased by 7 per cent to 466,000 tonnes.
• World figures for 2011 showed that China caught the largest amount of fish, 13.7 million tonnes. Peru had the second largest catch at 8.2 million tonnes. Indonesia, the United States and Russia each caught between 4.0 and 5.4 million tonnes.

The full report, and more detailed supplementary tables, can be seen here

Researchers from the University of Minnesota have published a study proposing an approach to predict, in advance, the threats of overfishing posed by current multispecies fishing practices.

The ‘Eventual Threat Index’ proposed has been tested on historical data series of four Pacific tuna and billfish populations. The results suggest that threatened species can be identified long before they experience severe population declines, providing time for preventative adjustments in fishing practices.

Read the full article here

This year the Researchers’ Night is on Friday 27 September.

This is a mega event taking place every year on a single September night in about 300 cities all over Europe.

Whether with family, school, friends or on your own – you will find yourself exploring science in engaging ways.

Find out this and more through behind-the-scenes guided tours of research labs that are normally closed to the public, interactive science shows, hands-on experiments or workshops.

Find an event near you here

The European Commission's annual “State of Fish Stocks in European waters” seminar was held on the 17th September in Brussels. Scientists from ICES presented the status of the Northeast Atlantic stocks and the Mediterranean and Black Sea stocks. While an improved situation has been detected for the North Atlantic stocks, the Mediterranean stocks are under worsening threat. As data shows, around 94% of the analysed Mediterranean and Black Sea stocks are estimated to be unsustainably exploited in 2010 – 2012.

European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, has declared: "Hard choices have been made in the northern seas, stocks have improved and the industry has grown more profitable as a result. This is a vindication of the hard work put in by scientists and the fishing industry to protect and recover stocks. But the Mediterranean stocks are as overfished as those in the northern areas were a decade ago. The Mediterranean countries now need to get moving quickly to sort out this overfishing before it leads to serious collapses and environmental damage.”

Read the DG MARE press release here

Presentations from the seminar are available here

The study, published the 12^th of September on Current Biology, found that two key components of schooling — the tendency to school and how well fish do it — map to different genomic regions in the threespine stickleback, a small fish native to the Northern Hemisphere. That’s important, said lead author Anna Greenwood, Ph.D., because it suggests that if researchers can identify the genes that influence the fishes’ interest in being social, they may be closer to understanding how genes drive human social behaviour.

“The motivation to be social is common among fish and humans,” said Greenwood, a staff scientist in the Human Biology Division at Fred Hutch. “Some of the same brain regions and neurological chemicals that control human social behaviour are probably involved in fish social behaviour as well.”

Read the full article here

The study is available here

The Dr Edouard Delcroix Prize is an international triennial scientific prize which will be awarded to a researcher or a research team for an original scientific study on the links between oceans and human health.

The aim of the Dr Edouard Delcroix Prize is to foster fundamental and applied scientific research which makes a significant contribution to:

- an improved understanding of the actual and potential health benefits from marine and coastal ecosystems, e.g. the “Blue Gym” effect, marine biodiscovery, thalassotherapy and functional revalidation in seawater;

- a reduction in the burden of human diseases linked with marine environmental causes, e.g. harmful algal blooms and other biogenic toxins, eutrophication, transmission of pathogens and chemical pollutants and the impacts of human activities such as  aquaculture;

- the anticipation of new threats to public health before they become serious, e.g. climate change, adverse natural events and radionuclides.

Please read more here

The Dr Edouard Delcroix Prize regulations are available here

The SmartFish Programme aims at contributing to an increased level of social, economic and environmental development and deeper regional integration in the ESA-IO through improved capacities for the sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources. The programme is financed by the European Union under the 10th European Development Fund and is implemented by the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) in collaboration with the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East Africa Community (EAC) and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Other regional institutions involved include the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and regional fisheries management organizations, such as the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), the Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC), the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO), and the Lake Tanganyika Fisheries Organization (LTFO). The ultimate beneficiaries of the Programme will be the fishermen, coastal communities and wider populations of the ACP States of the ESA-IO region covered by the 10th EDF Regional Indicative Program. It is furthermore expected that diverse stakeholder groups will draw specific direct and indirect benefits from the SmartFish programme.

Please visit the project website: http://www.fao.org/fishery/smartfish/en

Sustainability in fisheries management is a formidable goal for policy makers. One challenge for scientists is to define and design candidates for management plans and harvest control rules (HCRs) in accordance with the precautionary approach (environmental protection through decision-taking in the case of risk) that conform with long-term sustainable exploitation. These HCRs must also extend beyond the realm of fish stock sustainability into that of the environmental, the social, and the economic.

But while sustainable development of renewable natural resources is a goal shared by scientists, policy-makers, and stakeholders, inherent conflicts (e.g. yield maximization vs. conservation interests) prove regular stumbling blocks on the road to reaching it.

Stakeholder consensus is promoted when it is recognized that some seemingly conflicting objectives may be compatible (e.g. economic profit and ecosystem preservation). Work by Dorothy J. Dankel (IMR, Norway), Mikko Heino (IMR), Ulf Dieckmann (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria), to be presented in Reykjavík, will outline a quantitative route to reconciling such conflicts through integrated assessments.

By linking a biological model with a socio-economic one, both calibrated for the Norwegian capelin and cod single-species fisheries in the Barents Sea, Dankel et al. lay out multiple objectives by working out utility functions for five stakeholder groups, using the results to assess different management options.

The outcome shows that, for both cod and capelin, suitably low harvest rates and minimum-size regulations selected for larger fish bring about surprisingly high joint stakeholders satisfaction, with the least satisfied among five modeled stakeholder groups reaching a respective 93% and 90% of their maximum achievable utility.

The Conference

The ICES Annual Science Conference will be held in Reykjavík, Iceland, 23–27 September 2013. The conference venue will be the Harpa Conference Centre situated close to the city centre.

The conference will bring together 600–700 participants from all over the world. It provides an opportunity for marine scientists, stakeholders and students to exchange and share their experiences, new ideas, and research results, and discuss the practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted.

Theme Session Timetables and Registration details are available here

The second Fishery Dependent Information symposia will be held at FAO in Rome from 3-6 March 2014. The Symposia will explore the role of fishers in collecting data, the incorporation of fisher-collected data and knowledge in science, management and policy-making, and the broader role of stakeholders in this process.

The organisers are looking for presentations and posters which focus on fishery dependent information requirements to support science, management and policy development, and on the collection and use of fishery dependent data, including conventional and novel data collection methods, analysis and interpretation. In particular, the organisers would like to stimulate discussions at regional and global levels concerning challenges in the collection, compilation and interpretation of catch, bycatch and ancillary data.

Key dates:

May 2013: Conference website open for abstract submission

August 31 2013: Deadline for submission of abstracts and financial support

December 2013: Notification of abstract acceptance

January 31 2014: Early registration deadline

3-6 March 2014: Conference

Follow the updates by joining the Fishery Dependent Information symposia LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=5151995

Read more here

ICES has published a popular version of a major amount of its fish stock advice for 2014. The popular version is an easy-to-read, accessible digest of the official ICES advice.

Read the popularized digest version of ICES official advice on fish stocks here

The iMarine project has launched five web-based eTraining modules that will guide managers, policy makers and scientists through iMarine's products and its gateway.

iMarine (Data e-Infrastructure Initiative for Fisheries Management and Conservation of Marine Living Resources) is an FP7 open and collaborative initiative which is developing a data infrastructure to enable stakeholders to share multidisciplinary data sources, support cross-cutting scientific analysis, and assist communication.

A specific eTraining module is dedicated to the iMarine gateway, which is an access point to many Virtual Research Environments deployed and operated to support the Ecosystem Approach to fisheries management and conservation of marine living resources.

The gateway benefits from previously developed information systems, such as: the Catalogue of Life (CoL); the FAO Geospatial Data Catalogue (FAO GeoNetwork); the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF); the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS); the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG); the Marine Species Distribution Infrastructure (AquaMaps); the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS); and the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS).

You can read more here

The Myfish factsheet is now available in Greek!

Please download it from the Media Centre

A joint workshop involving the participation of the EU projects Myfish, Euro-Basin and DEVOTES, with the participation of ICES, was held in Charlottenlund from the 3 - 5 of April. The aim of the workshop was to investigate how the concept of Good Environmental Status (GES) can be applied to the pelagic ecosystem and fisheries that exploit pelagic fish.

More information is available here

The Myfish factsheet is now available in Spanish and Catalan!

Please download the factsheets from the Media Centre

The second Myfish project meeting was hosted by DTU-Aqua in Charlottenlund Castle, Copenhagen, Denmark from 5-7 March 2013. The meeting was well attended and saw the very proactive participation of over 40 partners. The main challenge the project is facing is the development of multi-species fisheries management plans that also take into account the environmental, economic and social constraints that are embedded within the different European and national policies.

The main topics discussed during the meeting were:

• The variants identified during the 1^st meeting (Vigo, Spain 2012). These will also constitute the objectives to be included in the Decision Support Table
• How the Decision Support Tables will work and what information is required to complete the
• The role of stakeholder engagement in the project

A project newsletter with the first findings and the future challenges of Myfish will be soon be available.

In the meantime, for more information please see the press release

New publications acknowledging Myfish have been released. Please visit the Media Centre session for further details

Media Centre -> Publications

09/10/2012

At the recent one day workshop on North Sea and Baltic Sea Multispecies Trade-offs [WKM-Trade] organised by ICES in Copenhagen on 9 October 2012, the preliminary results from the Myfish project were presented by the project Coordinator, Dr. Anna Rindorf, to project stakeholders.

"The workshop was devised as a scoping exercise for potential management options that explore MSY catches under various multispecies scenarios. Fisheries managers, scientists, NGO and industry representatives (many associated with the Baltic, North Sea or Pelagic RAC) all participated in the event" -

26/09/2012

Representatives of Myfish recently attended the Executive Committee Meeting of the North Western Waters Regional Advisory Council (NW RAC), which took place on 26 September 2012 in Dublin, where they gave presentations about the project.

Raúl Prellezo from AZTI (Myfish Partner 7) introduced the Myfish aims and expected results. Steve Mackinson from CEFAS (Myfish Partner 3) gave a presentation on the potential synergies between Myfish and the ongoing GAP2 project.

The presentation and the meeting agenda can be found through the following link: http://www.nwwrac.org/Meetings/Meetings_ENG/Navigation.php?id=550&language=English

Myfish partnership is pleased to announce the 2013 Myfish meeting in Charlottenlund, Denmark, which will start on March the 5th at 10.00 and continue until Thursday at 15.30. The meeting will present the progress in the project and discuss further progress.