Brussels, 24/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - “There are indications that the southern hake and Norway lobster plan has not been effective, mainly due to implementation failures”, the Commission says starkly in a report on implementation of the recovery plan for southern hake and Norway lobster stocks, published in mid-May. The Commission often defends the usefulness of recovery plans and wanted to make them one of the main planks of the reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP). It will probably propose ways of improving how this plan works, with a new fishing effort management system, real time closures and even the inclusion of additional zones and species.
With the plan not having been properly implemented, scientists take the view that it has had no beneficial effect whatsoever on the ecosystem. According to ICES (the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea), in 2010, four years after the plan came into force in 2006, the fishing mortality rate for hake was almost three times higher than the target set. Total allowable catches (TACs) for hake “have not been fully enforced”, the Commission states. According to estimates by ICES scientists, landings in 2010 were 2.2 times higher than the TAC. “As the recruitment (number of young fish joining the stock) seen in 2007 was unusually high, this represents a missed opportunity to rebuild the hake stock to a sustainable level within the foreseen timeframe. In case recruitment declines again to previously observed levels, a stronger transitional period or steeper reduction in catches to achieve maximum sustainable yield by 2015 will be necessary.”
Furthermore, the effort management regime (limited number of days fishing) has not succeeded in reducing fishing pressure on hake and Norway lobster stocks. Effective effort increased, mainly due both to effort transfer to gear that catch more hake per unit of effort and to a significant number of vessels not being subject to effort restrictions. The observed reduction in the effort exerted on Norway lobster stocks was due more to a shift of effort to the shrimp fishery than to effort reduction imposed by the plan itself.
The Commission says, too, that the failure to properly implement the plan between 2006 and 2010 has meant that net profits today are 20% lower than they would have been if the plan had been fully implemented from 2006.
With a view to possible revision of the plan in 2011, the Commission says that “the current failure to achieve the target reduction of fishing mortality needs to be addressed”. Besides implementation issues that need to be resolved urgently, the effort regime must also be improved. The Commission suggests: - introducing an effort regime that takes account of the fleet segments engaged in the fishery, whether with active or passive gear; - extending application of the effort regime to include the Gulf of Cadiz and smaller vessels; - bringing in seasonal and real-time closures; - including other species, such as anglerfish, in the plan to minimise the effect of this mixed fishery on other stocks.
Hake in the Cantabrian Sea and Western Iberian Peninsula is caught in a mixed fishery (i.e. along with other species), mainly by Spanish and Portuguese vessels. In the Bay of Biscay and Western Iberian seas, Norway lobster is caught in the mixed bottom trawl fishery. This fishery takes place throughout the year, with highest landings in spring and summer. Norway lobster is caught along with hake, anglerfish, megrim, horse mackerel, mackerel and blue whiting. (L.C./transl.rt)