The difficult, thankless, task of managing effort (days at sea restrictions) under the EU Cod Management Plan in the 2012 effort year (from 1st February) has begun, with a recent meeting of the English Days at Sea Group, on which the NFFO sits.
Implementing a management plan that has been evaluated by STECF and found to be flawed, yet obliged to implement its provisions because of the rigidity of the EU decision making process, is deeply depressing; especially as the pre-programmed reductions in effort will make life more difficult for the fleets in 2012.
Tough measures can sometimes be accepted even if not liked, but as STECF has concluded that it is not reasonable to expect fishing mortality to fall in line with effort reductions, the conservation rationale for these reductions simply isn’t there. This makes these measures doubly difficult to accept.
In a difficult set of negotiations at the December Council, the UK and other member states successfully fought off the Commission’s interpretation of Article 13 (effort buy-back provisions) of the Cod Management Plan, which had it stood ,would have gutted the Plan of the only element that STECF believes is effective. Although still hemmed in by the poorly drafted provisions of the Plan, there is plenty evidence noted by STECF that the various kinds of cod avoidance practiced by the UK fleet has substantially reduced discards of cod and helped with the rebuilding of the stocks.
Against this background, our priority has been to manage the UK’s effort allocation to avoid any premature closures of fisheries during 2012 and to maximise the flexibility for the fleets operating within the cod recovery zone.
The details of the effort management regime as a result of these discussions will appear shortly on the MMO website.
