Fisheries go forward
In many parts of Europe where fishing represents the livelihood of communities, data are not readily available to allow stakeholders to upgrade facilities and streamline fisheries. The project 'Probabilistic assessment, management and advice model for fishery management in the case of poor data availability' (Poorfish) supported evaluation and sustainable management of fisheries. It established an advisory system employing experts to handle small fisheries with different species, large new fisheries and those where data quality was substandard. The project examined several case studies using questionnaires and built on simulation frameworks of various EU projects. It focused on management issues and provided recommendations to help realise previous project outcomes, simplifying complicated approaches in the meantime. Poorfish also built a database of relevant scientific knowledge and established a website to help guide stakeholders. From the case studies and wealth of knowledge it amassed, the project developed a generic methodology and model that can be applied to all cases. Worth noting is that the exercise required identifying weaknesses in previous models and addressing them as well. In all, Poorfish successfully identified guidelines for assessment and management in situations where a lack of data existed. It then distributed the new models and principles to fisheries in order to help them improve management and data collection. The final model was considered very useful in producing scientific advice on the management of fisheries and will undoubtedly affect operation, productivity and viability positively.
