RECFISH FUNDING CLOSER AFTER EFTTA LOBBYIST’S CALL FOR FISHERIES DATA

A major workshop will take place next January with the aim of compiling a detailed description of all marine recreational fisheries in each EU country for the first time.

The data from the workshop – in which EFTTA lobbyist Jan Kappel is playing a key role – will be used to help decide future EU and national fishery management policy.

The information would also help the European recreational sea angling community to sustain and grow European recreational sea angling and assist the thousands of businesses dependant on it.

The need for accurate economic data received support earlier this month from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) which is the main adviser on fisheries management to the EU.

They were being shown EFIMAS (Operational Evaluation Tools for Fisheries Management Options) – new simulation systems which can be used by fisheries managers to forecast the economic and biological effects of future measures to protect European fish stocks.

Jan told the discussion: “These aids are urgently needed to prevent wrong decisions being made in the ever more complex and demanding task of managing European fisheries.”

But he urged the EU Commission and ICES to include economic data on recreational fisheries in the simulations, using data that was not currently available from many EU member states.

The Workshop on Sampling Methods for Recreational Fisheries will take place in Nantes, Frances, in January 2009.

One of its key outputs will be to: “Provide a comprehensive description of the marine recreational fisheries in each EU country including the species/stocks targeted, the potential or known magnitude of recreational catches and effort by geographic area, time period and fishing method and the definition of appropriate reference populations of recreational fishermen for sampling.”

EFTTA and the European Anglers Alliance (EAA) have been seeking 1-2 million euros in funding needed for the RECFISH project, a pan-European-socio-economic study on recreational angling.

Jan believes that the ICES workshop will reveal that most or all data needed by the EU would be available if RECFISH were carried out.

Said Jan: “Hopefully, the ICES seminar will bring us one step closer to funding of RECFISH or other studies providing the same information.”