Complementary roles of European and national institutions under the Common Fisheries Policy and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Exploited fish and shellfish stocks in European marine waters underlie the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The next round of reform of the CFP is due for completion in 2012. The exploitation at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) may be confirmed as the common environmental objective for good environment status (GES) of exploited fish and shellfish stocks of the reformed CFP and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The foreseen time horizon to achieve or maintain GES by 2020 appears inconsistent with the World Summit on Sustainable Development UN agreement in 2002, which stipulates that maintenance or restoring of stocks to produce MSY be realized by 2015. The MSFD requires instead that by 2015 the national programmes of measures be designed in order to become operational the following year (2016).     

Natura 2000 and the European Common Fisheries Policy

The implementation of the Natura 2000 network of marine protected areas under the European Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) has far-reaching implications for fisheries. To date, no consistent approaches have been established to develop fisheries management measures in Natura 2000 areas, and no European member state has proposed any fisheries measures to the European Commission for consideration under the Common Fisheries Policy. Four key issues are identified in the relationship between fisheries and Natura 2000, and the possible role that the future Common Fisheries Policy could have in this context is discussed. There is a need (1) for a consistent framework to integrate scientific advice, stakeholder participation and management in the management process; (2) for a common methodology to prioritize conservation objectives, in particular for transboundary protected areas; (3) for a consistent framework to assess and evaluate fisheries impacts to define management measures; and (4) to define spatial properties for fisheries. The results from the projects EMPAS (Germany), FIMPAS (the Netherlands), and INDEMARES (Spain) and the Dogger Bank case are discussed.     

The 2002 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy's system of governance—rhetoric or reality?

The 2002 Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was claimed to be a radical overhaul of a failing system. Several EU fish stocks—particularly North Sea cod—had reached dangerously low levels, and there was widespread dissatisfaction with the way in which the CFP was operating. The European Commission took the opportunity of the legal requirement to review some features of the CFP (principally access provisions) in 2002, to undertake a broader reappraisal of the CFP. One of the features of this reappraisal was an attempt to improve the CFP's system of governance by increasing the amount of stakeholder participation, decentralisation, transparency, accountability, effectiveness and coherence. In this paper, the conclusion is reached that this attempt to improve the quality of governance in the 2002 CFP reform package has been more rhetorical than real.     

The Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union and fisheries economics

The revision of the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union in 2003 was communicated in a ‘Roadmap’, including the opinion of the EU Commission on how to reform the fisheries policy. This paper reviews the Roadmap and confronts the opinion and initiatives proposed by the Commission with the ‘conventional’ bioeconomic theory. The purpose is to assess to what extent the lessons of the theory could be found in the Roadmap. Having in mind the complexity of the EU fisheries, the Roadmap, in particular, focuses on fleet management policy with the aim of reducing overcapacity on a community level. This applies as a supplementary means to the conventional fish stock conservation measures. In conclusion, the EU Commission is aware of the lessons learned from the bioeconomic theory.     

Fisheries policy, research and the social sciences in Europe: Challenges for the 21st century

Despite evidence of a broadening of the science base for European fisheries policy with the incorporation of an ecosystem approach and increasing use of economic modelling, the contribution of the social sciences to policy related research remains less conspicuous. Progress has occurred in the understanding of institutional structures and the theory of fisheries governance, but analysis of EU funded research in the 6th Framework Programme (2002–2006) points to the absence of social science except in multi-disciplinary projects. The diasporic nature of fisheries social science and the absence of clearly articulated social objectives from fisheries policy are among the more plausible explanations for this unconformity. Prospects for reform of the CFP in 2012—including a redistribution of responsibilities between central and regional institutions—offer enhanced opportunities for the social sciences in interdisciplinary and specialist areas of policy related research. Responding to the challenge will necessitate the building of stronger networks within the family of social sciences and across disciplinary boundaries with the natural and economic sciences.     

Rio+20 and the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy in Europe

At the Rio+20 meeting in June 2012, governments of the world committed to rebuilding fish stock sizes by 2015 at least to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), even if that would require the temporary closure of fisheries. This study explores the outcomes of such action for European stocks. In 2012, only 8 of 48 stocks (17%) were abundant enough to produce MSY and with a business as usual scenario, this number would not increase by 2015. In contrast, if fishing was reduced to levels consistent with rebuilding and if some fisheries were temporarily closed, 50–70% of the examined stocks would be able to reach the Rio+20 target by the end of 2015. In this scenario, after three years with reduced catches, fish supply from European stocks would reach and exceed the levels of 2011 already in 2016. The implications for fish, fishers and fish consumers are discussed.     

Fisheries science and sustainability in international policy: a study of failure in the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy

Within the European Union, scientific fisheries research and advice is passed down a chain of central European institutions before being incorporated into policy. However, advice is often poorly or only partially implemented and the system has largely failed to achieve sustainable fisheries management.This paper aims to explain why, by examining the use of fisheries science within the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The problem is examined with respect to both the political system and fisheries science, to show that the factors in both the supply, and the subsequent use, of scientific data inhibit effective fisheries management.     

Designed for failure: A critique of the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union

The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) of the European Union has neither lived up to its aim of enhancing the sustainability of fish stocks nor that of improving the economic competitiveness of the fishing industry. This paper discusses the failure of the CFP from a biological, economical, legal and political perspective.     

Towards sustainable fisheries subsidies: Entering a new round of reform under the Common Fisheries Policy

On 22 April 2009 the European Commission published its ‘Green Paper on the Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy’. The Green Paper points out a contradiction in policy, noting on one hand that public financial support to the Community's fisheries sector is substantial, but on the other hand such support is often incompatible with other Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) objectives, particularly the need to reduce overcapacities. Providing an analytical framework to better understand the effects of subsidies as well as an overview of existing funding schemes under the CFP, this article aims at answering some of the questions posed by the European Commission within its Green Paper. Answers are based on two ideas: the exploitation of marine capture resources ultimately depends on the level of available fish stocks and that a large share of subsidies fuels the race to fish by inducing investment incentives for the fisheries sector. Policies that have ignored this tend to encourage inefficient and unsustainable fishing as well as the misallocation of public funds. Although support schemes under the CFP have changed in recent years, some problematic support schemes persist. A future reform will have to continue the course taken towards sustainable and efficient approaches to supporting the fisheries industry.     

Narrowing down the number of species requiring detailed study as candidates for the EU Common Fisheries Policy discard ban

By 2019, the Common Fisheries Policy will prohibit discarding in all European fisheries of any pelagic, demersal or shellfish species for which removals are managed by TACs and quotas or minimum sizes. However, the regulation allows for exemptions from the prohibition for species for which scientific evidence demonstrates high survival rates associated with discarding. Producing reliable evidence of high survival typically requires long and costly studies involving tagging or captivity. This paper proposes to use the capacity to resist air exposure, a key stressor for discarded animals, as a proxy for survival that can be used to prioritize candidate species for more in-depth discard survival studies. The time required to induce mortality (TM) in air-exposed fish was estimated for ten discarded species under commercial fishing conditions for two artisanal French otter trawlers in the Bay of Biscay and in the English Channel. European seabass, plaice, sole and skates had extended TM values on average, suggesting that these species are good candidates. The three species observed in both regions (plaice, sole and skates) had larger TM values in the English Channel experiment compared to the Bay of Biscay experiment. Among the four measured external conditions that could influence TM (air temperature, fish length, tow depth and tow duration), the air temperature was the most important and the factor that most distinguished the two experiments.     

Institutions and governance in the European Common Fisheries Policy: An empirical study of Spanish fishers' attitudes toward greater participation

Public participation in the decision-making process is a key element of good governance. In its latest proposals for reforming the Common Fisheries Policy, the European Commission acknowledges that management measures lack legitimacy without input from the fishers themselves and thus underscores the need to increase it and adapt it to local or regional conditions. This study analyzes Spanish fishermen's own views about their participation in the decision-making process. The results show that most fishers are in favor of more participation by themselves and by regional governments in the decision-making process.     

From RACs to Advisory Councils: Lessons from North Sea discourse for the 2014 reform of the European Common Fisheries Policy

From RACs to Advisory Councils analyses the discourse of stakeholders engaged in Europe׳s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in a tier of governance known as RACs (Regional Advisory Councils) from 2004 to 2008. The analysis demonstrates a shift towards discursive sharing by participating stakeholders. This fostered inclusion but did not effect a redistribution of the power held by Europe׳s inter-governmental institutions. This more substantive change would require more, and more consistent, discursive consensus from stakeholders. With a reformed CFP for 2014, this paper considers the possibility of a future in which regional stakeholder-based fisheries governance becomes a reality.     

Historical tsunami in the Makran Subduction Zone off the southern coasts of Iran and Pakistan and results of numerical modeling

Tsunami hazard in the Makran Subduction Zone (MSZ), off the southern coasts of Iran and Pakistan, was studied by numerical modeling of historical tsunami in this region. Although the MSZ triggered the second deadliest tsunami in the Indian Ocean, among those known, the tsunami hazard in this region has yet to be analyzed in detail. This paper reports the results of a risk analysis using five scenario events based on the historic records, and identifies a seismic gap area in western Makran off the southern coast of Iran. This is a possible site for a future large earthquake and tsunami. In addition, we performed numerical modeling to explain some ambiguities in the historical reports. Based on the modeling results, we conclude that either the extreme run-up of 12–15 m assigned for the 1945 Makran tsunami in the historical record was produced by a submarine landslide triggered by the parent earthquake, or that these reports are exaggerated. The other possibility could be the generation of the huge run-up heights by large displacements on splay faults. The results of run-up modeling reveal that a large earthquake and tsunami in the MSZ is capable of producing considerable run-up heights in the far field. Therefore, it is possible that the MSZ was the source of the tsunami encountered by a Portuguese fleet in Dabhul in 1524.     

Fisheries regulation: A survey of the literature on uncertainty,compliance behavior and asymmetric information

Economists normally claim that a stock externality arises within fisheries because each individual fisherman does not take the effect on stock size into account when making harvest decisions. Due to the stock externality, it is commonly argued that fisheries regulation is necessary, but regulatory decisions are complicated by a tremendous amount of uncertainty and asymmetric information. This paper provides an overview of selected parts of the literature on the regulation of fisheries under uncertainty and asymmetric information, and possible areas for future research are identified. Specifically, three main topics are covered. First, the issue of choosing regulatory instruments under uncertainty is discussed. Second, compliance and enforcement problems caused by fisheries regulation are investigated. Third, alternatives to a traditional enforcement policy are presented.     

Bacteriological investigation of the neuston and plankton in the Fraser River estuary,British Columbia

Microbiological parameters were examined in the surface microlayer (150 μm) and the subsurface waters (1 m) of the Fraser River estuary (British Columbia) at salinities of 0, 15 and 25‰. Little difference was observed in the neustonic variables between these three stations. A comparison of the neuston with the plankton over the estuary as a whole revealed elevated detritus, particulate organic carbon and nitrogen but reduced ATP, heterotrophic activity and percentage respiration in the neuston. Enrichment of bacterial numbers or dissolved organic carbon was not observed in the surface microlayer.     

Establishing attitudes and perceptions of recreational boat users based in the River Hamble Estuary,UK, towards Marine Conservation Zones

Research was completed focusing on a population of recreational boat users with moorings on the River Hamble Estuary, United Kingdom. Issues explored include: (1) boater setting preferences; (2) sources of perceived conflict; and (3) understanding and support for Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs). Several sources of perceived conflict emerged. Action taken to address conflict must be problem specific, targeting the individual as opposed to the activity in general. Results suggest that there is little awareness and a lack of understanding and support amongst recreational boaters with regards to the role of MCZs. The MCZ Project was set up in 2009 in order to work with sea users and interest groups to make site recommendations. Many participants in this research stated that the MCZ Project has: taken an unbalanced approach, represents overregulation, and poses a threat to safe anchorages. It is apparent that compliance and support for management tools being employed will be achieved only if the process is transparent and inclusive. An appropriate and equitable mechanism must be developed in order to move beyond ‘public consultation’ to ensure stakeholders are more fully engaged in both the implementation and management of MCZs. Such strategies will help to alleviate feelings of powerlessness as is so often the case in public consultation.     

Carbon,nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics in nine sub-systems of the Sylt-Rømø Bight ecosystem,German Wadden Sea

Flow networks of nine sub-systems consisting of 59 components each of the Sylt-Rømø Bight, German Wadden Sea, were constructed depicting the standing stocks and flows of material and energy within and between the sub-systems. Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous were used as currencies for each sub-system, thus resulting in 27 network models, which were analyzed by ecological network analytical protocols. Results show substantial variability in the dynamics of these elements within and between the nine sub-systems, which differ in habitat structure, species diversity and in the standing stocks of their constituent living and non-living components. The relationship between the biodiversity and selected information indices and ratios, derived from ecological network analysis, of individual sub-systems is variable and differ substantially between them. Ecosystem properties such as the structure and magnitude of the recycling of these elements, number of cycles, and total sub-system activity were calculated and discussed, highlighting the differences between and complexity of the flow of C, N and P in a coastal marine ecosystem. The average number of cycles increase from 179 for C, to 16,923 and 20,580 for N and P respectively, while the average amount of recycled material, as measured by the Finn Cycling Index (FCI), increase from 17% for C, to 52% for P and to 61% for N. The number of cycles and the FCI vary considerably between the sub-systems for the different elements. The largest number of cycles of all three elements was observed in the muddy sand flat sub-system, but the highest FCIs were computed for both C (32%) and N (85%) in the Arenicola Flats, and in sparse Zostera noltii sea grass beds for P (67%). Indices reflecting on the growth, organization and resilience of the sub-systems also showed considerable variability between and within the inter-tidal ecosystems in the Bight. Indices such as, for example, the relative ascendency ratios increase on average from C to N to P, whereas others, such as the Average Mutual Information and Flow Diversity indices, were found to be higher in the N models than in the C or P ones.     

Results from a detailed aeromagnetic survey across the northeast Newfoundland margin, Part II: Early opening of the North Atlantic between the British Isles and Newfoundland

Poles of rotation for the North Atlantic have been derived from the results of a new aeromagnetic survey northeast of Newfoundland. Reconstruction of the North Atlantic at anomaly 34 time shows a band of large amplitude magnetic anomalies which parallels anomaly 34 on both sides of the Atlantic from Flemish Cap and Goban Spur to the Azores-Gibraltar Fracture Zone. A group of similar anomalies has also been identified in the Bay of Biscay. North of Goban Spur and Flemish Cap, these anomalies follow the ocean-continent boundary. Poles of rotation derived for this anomaly show that it forms an isochron (100–110 m.y.) during the long Cretaceous normal polarity interval. The cause of this anomaly is not definite, but it may represent an increase in the magnetization of the crust during a limited time within the Cretaceous Magnetic Quiet Zone by a process such as replacement of thermoremanent magnetization by chemical remanent magnetization as proposed by Raymond and LaBrecque.The North Atlantic has also been reconstructed at the time of the initial opening in the region between Flemish Cap and the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone, using inferred ocean-continent boundaries on the west and east sides: it has been shown that the entire region could not have saparated at one time, but that spreading between the British Isles and Newfoundland had to progress from south to north. Consequently, when active sea-floor spreading was taking place between Goban Spur and Flemish Cap (about 110 m.y.) the region to the north was still being stretched. The calculated amount of stretching as derived from the reconstructions (about 25%) agrees well with the extension of the lithosphere obtained from modelling the subsidence history of this region, and with the results of deep seismic studies. Active spreading in the north started about 100 m.y. ago.     

Shell growth history of geoduck clam (Panopea abrupta) in Parry Passage, British Columbia, Canada: Temporal variation in annuli and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation

An assemblage of geoduck clam shells from the marine environment of coastal British Columbia was studied. Shells were cut and the widths of internal shell growth increments, annuli, were measured from the hinge plate. The largest shells showed more than one hundred annual increments. Shell growth exhibited juvenile maxima at ontogenetic ages 3–6 years. The growth maximum was followed by a distinct decline that continued until the death of each individual. Further, this ontogenetic growth trend was mathematically removed from the data in order to examine growth variations other than ageing. The longest growth records from the oldest shells were compared to monthly indices of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). It was found that the PDO exerts the strongest influence on the shell growth during the very start of the growing season, in February and March. We also detected increased magnitude of growth variations towards the end of the 20th century. Similar trends were apparent in the PDO record. Moreover, the shell specimen displaying the strongest trend of increasing variance had the strongest PDO-linked regional growth signal. Our results support the view that PDO exerts a governing influence on the biological and ecological system along Northeast Pacific coastal areas. Incorporation of geoduck shell growth increment analyses into multi-disciplinary studies dealing with palaeoceanography and archaeology is suggested as a promising future approach.