Periodic Reporting for period 3 - FarFish (Responsive Results-Based Management and capacity building for EU Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement- and international waters)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-06-01 al 2021-11-30
About 20% of the EU fishing fleet’s catches come from non-EU waters, either from international waters or from within waters of countries that have signed bilateral agreements with the EU, granting EU vessels access and restricted fishing rights. These agreements are of two types, i.e. northern agreements with countries in the Northern Atlantic that have shared stocks with the EU and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs) with non-EU countries that are not fully utilizing their fisheries resources. The SFPAs are intended to enhance fisheries governance for sustainable exploitation within the relevant waters and contribute to stable fish supply and development in the fisheries sector. The agreements include financial support which aims to promote sustainable fisheries development in the partner countries by strengthening their administrative and scientific capacity.
Many of the countries that have signed SFPAs with the EU lack the infrastructure and know-how to sufficiently manage and utilize their marine resources. Biological knowledge, control and monitoring of the fisheries are weak, which is also often an issue in international waters. The management measures in these fisheries are mostly based on limited science, and management decisions are made in the context of limited enforcement capabilities. Understanding of the biology and ecology of target and by-catch species in these areas are incomplete, and appropriate stock assessment and management tools need to be further developed and implemented to provide a more solid knowledge base and advice on fisheries management. Increased accountability and transparency are needed to improve compliance.
The role and responsibilities of the EU fleet are significant in ensuring sustainable utilization of the resources to which they have access, whether that is under SFPAs or in international waters. The overall goal of FarFish is to provide knowledge, tools and methods to support responsible, sustainable and profitable EU fisheries outside European waters. To achieve this, FarFish has developing practical, achievable and cost-effective fisheries management tools and advice. The work was done in collaboration of scientists, policy makers, resource users and other stakeholders aimed to improve fisheries management competences. FarFish provided a better knowledge base of these fisheries and encouraged resource users to actively take part in the management.
Six case studies (CSs) were selected for FarFish to represent EU fisheries within the high seas and SFPAs. These are the high seas fisheries in the SW and SE-Atlantic (FAO areas 41 & 47); and the SFPA fisheries in Cape Verde, Senegal, Mauritania and Seychelles.
Many of the countries that have signed SFPAs with the EU lack the infrastructure and know-how to sufficiently manage and utilize their marine resources. Biological knowledge, control and monitoring of the fisheries are weak, which is also often an issue in international waters. The management measures in these fisheries are mostly based on limited science, and management decisions are made in the context of limited enforcement capabilities. Understanding of the biology and ecology of target and by-catch species in these areas are incomplete, and appropriate stock assessment and management tools need to be further developed and implemented to provide a more solid knowledge base and advice on fisheries management. Increased accountability and transparency are needed to improve compliance.
The role and responsibilities of the EU fleet are significant in ensuring sustainable utilization of the resources to which they have access, whether that is under SFPAs or in international waters. The overall goal of FarFish is to provide knowledge, tools and methods to support responsible, sustainable and profitable EU fisheries outside European waters. To achieve this, FarFish has developing practical, achievable and cost-effective fisheries management tools and advice. The work was done in collaboration of scientists, policy makers, resource users and other stakeholders aimed to improve fisheries management competences. FarFish provided a better knowledge base of these fisheries and encouraged resource users to actively take part in the management.
Six case studies (CSs) were selected for FarFish to represent EU fisheries within the high seas and SFPAs. These are the high seas fisheries in the SW and SE-Atlantic (FAO areas 41 & 47); and the SFPA fisheries in Cape Verde, Senegal, Mauritania and Seychelles.
FarFish was centred on wide scale stakeholder involvement and participatory processes. The objective of this was to involve stakeholders in creating solutions for the policy context. This work was instrumental for achieving specific objectives of the project and for ensuring that projects results would be fit for purpose, accepted and used.
FarFish’s objectives of advancing biological knowledge, which included collecting and collating data related to biological characteristics of the main fish stocks in the CSs, represented a key component of the project. Data was collected from multiple sources and used as input to other work in the project. Much of the data collected is now available for reuse in the FarFish DataBase (FFDB), on Zeondo and in publicly available FarFish deliverables. As part of advancing biological knowledge, FarFish performed an evaluation of current stock assessment models used in each of the CSs, providing important perspective on the appropriateness, relevance and applicability of stock assessment models currently in use within the CSs. The project did as well initiate a pilot self-sampling program to demonstrate how such an approach can be applied to advance biological knowledge in the CSs. This self-sampling programme had the aim of discriminating between two black hake species in catches off the coast of W-Africa and was run by EU and Senegalese fishing vessels. The pilot showed that using self-sampling by fishermen is a viable option for collecting scientifically relevant data.
FarFish awarded significant efforts at mapping and analysing the CS value chains, and the current legal and contractual practices and constraints in these fisheries. This resulted in a comprehensive value chain and governance structure analysis, and associated policy recommendations.
Major component of the FarFish project was to develop so called management recommendations (MRs) for each of the CSs. MR is a formal agreement between resource users (fishing operators) and the relevant authorities on how to reach overall objectives for the respective fishery, by shifting responsibility for the management from authorities (top-down) to the operators (bottom-up). The project produced guidelines on how to develop MRs, and each CS then went through two iterations of developing MRs based on the guidelines. The MRs were then audited by independent auditor to evaluate soundness and success of the MRs.
FarFish developed general fisheries management- and other Decision Support Tools (DSTs) to support the FarFish CSs in developing MRs and to contribute to capacity building. Main results included the development of the FarFish DataBase (FFDB) and DSTs, as well as production of visualization materials to support development of MRs in the CSs.
Tools for using Data Limited Methods (DLM) for stock assessment were developed, interactive maps for analysing satellite and AIS signals have been developed, and an interactive platform to integrate codes visualization and data interaction tools for the selected CSs has been developed as well. The FarFish App was also created, which provides an easy and visual access to data, tools, reports and other results of the project; and allows them to be linked with specific issues or countries.
A major objective of the FarFish project was to build capacities, professional skills and competences of stakeholders within the project’s CSs and beyond within the field of fisheries management. Among capacity building outputs from the project included the development of a special university-level certificate program that was run in Tromso in early 2020, and remains now as e-learning coursed (8 students were graduated from the programme within the lifetime of FarFish), a six-month post-graduate program tailor-made for FarFish that has already graduated 5 students/fellows, e-learning materials tailored for FarFish in statistics, stock assessment and fisheries management where data is limited which are hosted within the Tutor-web platform, and more.
Dissemination of the project itself was also a vital part of FarFish, which included broad scope dissemination to various target audiences, which resulted in high interests all around the world. The project facilitated a large number of workshops and conferences, some of which are available at the project website.
FarFish’s objectives of advancing biological knowledge, which included collecting and collating data related to biological characteristics of the main fish stocks in the CSs, represented a key component of the project. Data was collected from multiple sources and used as input to other work in the project. Much of the data collected is now available for reuse in the FarFish DataBase (FFDB), on Zeondo and in publicly available FarFish deliverables. As part of advancing biological knowledge, FarFish performed an evaluation of current stock assessment models used in each of the CSs, providing important perspective on the appropriateness, relevance and applicability of stock assessment models currently in use within the CSs. The project did as well initiate a pilot self-sampling program to demonstrate how such an approach can be applied to advance biological knowledge in the CSs. This self-sampling programme had the aim of discriminating between two black hake species in catches off the coast of W-Africa and was run by EU and Senegalese fishing vessels. The pilot showed that using self-sampling by fishermen is a viable option for collecting scientifically relevant data.
FarFish awarded significant efforts at mapping and analysing the CS value chains, and the current legal and contractual practices and constraints in these fisheries. This resulted in a comprehensive value chain and governance structure analysis, and associated policy recommendations.
Major component of the FarFish project was to develop so called management recommendations (MRs) for each of the CSs. MR is a formal agreement between resource users (fishing operators) and the relevant authorities on how to reach overall objectives for the respective fishery, by shifting responsibility for the management from authorities (top-down) to the operators (bottom-up). The project produced guidelines on how to develop MRs, and each CS then went through two iterations of developing MRs based on the guidelines. The MRs were then audited by independent auditor to evaluate soundness and success of the MRs.
FarFish developed general fisheries management- and other Decision Support Tools (DSTs) to support the FarFish CSs in developing MRs and to contribute to capacity building. Main results included the development of the FarFish DataBase (FFDB) and DSTs, as well as production of visualization materials to support development of MRs in the CSs.
Tools for using Data Limited Methods (DLM) for stock assessment were developed, interactive maps for analysing satellite and AIS signals have been developed, and an interactive platform to integrate codes visualization and data interaction tools for the selected CSs has been developed as well. The FarFish App was also created, which provides an easy and visual access to data, tools, reports and other results of the project; and allows them to be linked with specific issues or countries.
A major objective of the FarFish project was to build capacities, professional skills and competences of stakeholders within the project’s CSs and beyond within the field of fisheries management. Among capacity building outputs from the project included the development of a special university-level certificate program that was run in Tromso in early 2020, and remains now as e-learning coursed (8 students were graduated from the programme within the lifetime of FarFish), a six-month post-graduate program tailor-made for FarFish that has already graduated 5 students/fellows, e-learning materials tailored for FarFish in statistics, stock assessment and fisheries management where data is limited which are hosted within the Tutor-web platform, and more.
Dissemination of the project itself was also a vital part of FarFish, which included broad scope dissemination to various target audiences, which resulted in high interests all around the world. The project facilitated a large number of workshops and conferences, some of which are available at the project website.
FarFish has contributed to improving knowledge on and management of EU fisheries outside Europe, while promoting to sustainability and long-term profitability. Results include policy briefs and recommendations, new knowledge and Decision Support Tools, as well as capacity building among key stakeholders; all of which represent progress beyond-state-of-art that will facilitate concreate impact from FarFish.