The next 1^st and 2^nd of June, the Conference “The External Dimension of the Common Fisheries Policy: Present Challenges and Future Opportunities” will take place, within the framework of the H2020 FarFish project.

The Conference will be held through the Zoom platform, and is organized by the LDAC and CETMAR. Registration is free, and will be open until May 26^th. To eliminate barriers, a simultaneous interpretation service in English, French and Spanish will be available throughout the event.

The Conference is divided into two days:

• The first day will be dedicated to the external dimension of the CFP in general and to RFMOs. Ms Vitcheva, Deputy-General at DG MARE will be in charge of starting the first day with a presentation on the Outcomes of the EC consultation on international ocean governance.

• The  second day will have the conversation focused on SFPAs. It will include a round table in which the FarFish Case Studies in third countries will be presented, and the contributions to the improvement of fisheries management that have been made since the project will be discussed.

Each of the panels will be made up of world-renowned experts, such as Mr. Benabbou (COMHAFAT), Mr. Manel (ICCAT) or Ms. Leroy (WWF). We will also have representatives of the European institutions (DG MARE and the European Parliament) who will share their views on the subject.

More information on the conference can be found here.

The FarFish project has published a report that studies potential return on EU investments in selected West African and Indian Ocean case studies connected with the long-distant fleets operations in the areas. The report focuses on small pelagic fisheries in Mauritania and tuna fisheries in West Africa and Seychelles.

The H2020 FarFish project aims to provide knowledge, tools and methods to support responsible, sustainable and profitable EU fisheries outside European waters, both within the jurisdiction (EEZ) of non-EU coastal states as well as in international waters (High Seas). To help achieve this goal, the project has published a report that identifies, studies and recommends investment opportunities for EU operators within some of the areas that conform the project Case Studies. Specifically, the report studies investment opportunities within the small pelagic fisheries in Mauritanian waters, and the associated value chains, and the tuna fish pole and line fishery in West Africa, and the associated value chains. The authors included as well a section dedicated to investigating the specific case of investment of French capital in tuna fisheries in Seychelles.

The analysis done for small pelagic fisheries in Mauritania concludes that although efforts have been made to improve the business environment in Mauritania, it remains more attractive for European investors to continue processing the landings of demersal fishes in Spain and small-pelagic ones in Baltic countries. Still, it is not suitable to foresee large European investment in developing the processing industry in Mauritania to handle the fish landed by EU vessels under the agreement, as this will go against the Common Fishery Policy (CFP) that promotes the maintaining of jobs in the EU based fishing industry. In that regards, a coherence of the external EU policies is sought: the development of the processing industry in Mauritania should be promoted only for the species that are not yet processed in the EU.

For the investigations into tuna fisheries, the analyses were based on interviews with relevant stakeholders, including shipowners and key personnel from public bodies and institutions both in West Africa and Europe. A second case study in tuna fisheries in this case in the Indian Ocean, investigates the investment from the French company SAPMER to improve the land infrastructure in the Port of Victoria (Seychelles), as this would be the only notable investment by European interests in recent years for tuna fishing in Africa. These sections conclude that the fishing area where EU pole-and-line vessels are active is becoming less productive, decreasing the profitability of European flagged vessels, as well as of Senegalese flagged vessels that maintain close partnerships with Europe. As a response, they have attempted to extend their fishing grounds. Additional fishing opportunities are opening in The Gambia (whose EEZ is restricted) and other countries are expected to follow. Contrastingly, the EU sustainable partnership fisheries agreement with Senegal or Mauritania could include fewer fishing opportunities in terms of tonnage, as well as increasingly restrictive conditions for access and landings. European operators have reacted so far by considering the switch to private regime, instead of operating under SFPA, as a preferred strategy.

The full report is available here.

Alexandre Rodríguez from the LDAC, one of the FarFish Consortium members, has published in a special edition of Industrias Pesqueras (main fisheries industry journal in Spain) an interesting article referring some good practices initiatives developed by fisheries operators. These initiatives highlight the collaboration between fishermen and scientists, and all the achievements that we can achieve together. All three operators mentioned are FarFish collaborators in several levels, as partners in the case of Opromar and as advisory experts in the case of both Orpagu and Opagac. As the article is in Spanish, please find below a small summary of the initiatives described:

FAD-WATCH was the first multisectorial initiative at a global level, developed to prevent and mitigate the stranding of FADs in beaches and coral reefs. It was developed in the Seychelles, with the collaboration of Opagac, local NGOs and Seychellois authorities. As a result, around a hundred FADs were intercepted, and the information was then used to design an improved FAD system that reduced their strandings up to 41%.

Orpagu carried out training courses to their crew with the help of Submon, with the aim of increasing the survival of sea turtle bycatches. These training courses included techniques on how to safely remove hooks from the animals and how to manipulate them. The work, mainly done in Cabo Verdean waters, has led to the design and patent by the vessel crews of two devices that will help them safely lift the turtles from the water whilst hauling the catch.

FarFish ran a self-sampling project within the Mauritanian and Senegalese Case Studies with the assistance of Opromar, with the aim of improving the onboard identification of the two black hake species (M. polli and M. senegalensis). Three vessels participated, collecting a total of 358 samples with the fin clipping method following a protocol designed by CCMAR. The identification error was under 18%, with variations depending on depth and fishing area. The fin samples were visually identified and then sent to the University of Oviedo, that identified them genetically. Both identifications were then compared to check the accuracy of visual identification by the vessel crew. The results allow us to better understand data and communication gaps, and work towards their elimination.

The FarFish project has published a report where governance structures, as well as social and economic issues, connected with EU long-distant fisheries in selected case studies are analysed. The study focuses on identifying institutional challenges in the relevant fisheries, SWOT analysis of processing and markets for the products, and suggestions for improvements.

The EU is obliged to ensure sustainable utilization of the fisheries’ resources to which EU fleets have access to, both in the high seas and through bilateral agreements, based on the principles of good economic and social governance. This is mainly done through cooperation with Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) and national authorities in partnership countries to improve knowledge and management of the fisheries. Inadequate governance of these fisheries can hinder the goal of sustainable utilization of fisheries’ resources, resulting in suboptimal or over-exploitation of shared and straddling fish stocks. On the other hand, limited knowledge regarding the processing and market conditions in partner coastal states has contributed to substantial criticism regarding the social and economic benefits that the international fisheries actually bring to the partners’ countries.

In line with the overall objective of the FarFish project, to ensure sustainability and profitability in EU fisheries outside of Europe, the project has published a report that utilises the knowledge acquired across the different work packages in the project to identify challenges and opportunities for improvements in the FarFish case studies regarding governance structure, as well as social- and economic issues. This analysis is twofold: 1) identification of institutional challenges obstructing the achievement of the intended governance principles as expressed in the relevant fisheries agreements; 2) analysis of the processing and market strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the selected case studies. These are then summarized in the form of road maps, which visualize the pathways towards achieving the ambitions identified for the FarFish project.

The selected case studies included in the report are high-seas fisheries in the SW- and SE-Atlantic, and SFPA fisheries in Capo Verde, Senegal, Mauritania and Seychelles. The report highlights the fact that the different case studies, despite having each their own identity, have several challenges in common, such as the lack of adequate data reporting and collection, limited resources of coastal states to conduct adequate Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) on international fleets (i.e. processing of VMS signals).

The full report is available here.

On 4^th of March, 2021, the International Conference titled “Sustainable Fisheries in SW Atlantic: a scientific approach” took place within the framework of the FarFish project. With 141 attendees, the online conference was a success not only because of the interest that it raised, but because of the fruitful discussions that we were able to witness during the different panels.

During the first panel, dedicated to explore scientific collaboration to advance in fisheries assessments, it was agreed that there is a need for international cooperation in scientific research. Data sharing is essential for all fisheries, but particularly on fisheries of straddling stocks that live in different EEZs (e.g. Illex argentinus and Merluccius hubbsi).Observer programmes need to be strengthened too through collaborative research, helping with the promotion of selectivity gear and by-catch measures, and building (uninterrupted) time data series. The research priorities identified by the panelists can be divided into two fields:

• A multilateral action plan to be defined through a stepwise approach for data collection programs on:
  • Biology (population structure, distribution, age and growth, feeding and spawning grounds, migration)
  • Habitat characteristics (suitability, benthos, population dynamics)
  • Fisheries management (fishing effort, flag state, technical measures and international law);
  • Climate and environmental conditions (spatial and temporal scales)
• Set an adequate international legal framework for scientific cooperation in the area, focus on:
  • Fight overfishing and IUU fishing
  • Promote scientific forums to share and exchange information
  • Improve MCS and compliance by all fleets for VME protection in ABNJ waters

The second panel focused the discussion on best practices on management and control. Representatives from the IEO, Global Fishing Watch and the industry highlighted the need for further integration of research and fisheries data under a multidisciplinary approach. For example, remote sensing could be used to estimate fleet sizes and catch rates, being complementary to the use of VMS and ERS. At the same time, fisheries uncertainty could be reduced by rising science and strengthening the connectivity between both scientific and local knowledge.

The main take-home message from the Conference is the need of an RFMO to implement the mechanisms that will allow the coordination and connectivity between stakeholders, as well as the sharing and exchange scientific data in order to prepare advice and agree on regulatory measures in Patagonian Shelf.