The results of the European research project, EcoFishMan, were presented at an international seminar held at the National Research Council in Rome on 28 February 2014. The project was also presented on 5 March at the International Conference of Fisheries Dependent Information held at FAO headquarters in Rome.
The project has developed a new Responsive Fisheries Management System (RFMS) in collaboration with the main stakeholders in European fisheries. The aim of the EcoFishMan project has been to promote a completely new approach to fisheries management in Europe that is acceptable to stakeholders, governments and the fishing industry alike, and thus to have a significant impact on future fisheries policy.
RFMS describes how responsibility for fisheries management can be transferred to the fishermen, that is, the users of the wealth, provided that they set themselves and achieve defined management goals. Environmental, commercial and social factors are taken into account, as well as ways to improve co-operation and mutual understanding between policy makers and stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of the system. Stakeholder participation is strengthened by taking into account their knowledge and needs.
RFMS is implemented in stages and tailored to each type of fishery individually. The first step in the EcoFishMan project towards proposing different options for each type of fishery was to evaluate different approaches to fisheries management. The co-operation with stakeholders revealed that they consider RFMS to be a useful tool for fisheries management in suitable European pilot projects. It can also be used as a "program" to draft measures to reduce discards, as part of the ongoing reform of the European Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
Mike Parrk of the Scottish Catfish Producers' Association said: "I think with this new approach to fishing, we can address the current disadvantages of CFP, which are: vague goals and the short-sighted and often responsive decision-making process that makes it difficult for industry and stakeholders to implement change." .
The new system places increased responsibilities on fishermen to manage and report on their activities. The responsibility for allocating individual quotas and for monitoring compliance with the rules is transferred from the government to the fishermen. This will increase local ownership of fish and data, and increase transparency, both in decisions and violations of rules.
The project was funded by the European Union's Seventh Research Program, EU FP7. The grant was a total of 3.8 million euros and was for three years from March 1, 2011. The EcoFishMan project involves a total of 14 institutions, companies and universities in eight European countries, Dr. Anna Kristín Daníelsdóttir, division manager at Matís, is the project manager and dr. Sveinn Margeirsson, CEO of Matís, is on the project's science committee. Participants are Matis (IS), Eurofish (DK), CETMAR (ES), Syntesa (FO), Háskóli Íslands (IS), National Research Council / Institute of Marine Sciences (IT), Nofima Marin (NO), University of Tromsø ( NO), Centro de Ciências do Mar (PT), IPMA (PT), MAPIX technologies Ltd (UK), Marine Scotland Science (UK), University of Aberdeen (UK) and Seafish (UK).
Further information
Anna Kristín Daníelsdóttir, anna.k.danielsdottir@matis.is and Sveinn Margeirsson, sveinn.margeirsson@matis.is.