This year’s December Council of Ministers during which TACs and quotas for the year are argued out in Brussels promises to be one of the most complex ever, as well as being the last one in which the UK participates as an EU member state. According to the NFFO, ministers face a number of unpalatable choices and trade-offs.
Potential conflicts are set to arise over the full implementation of the Landing Obligation from 1st January, the requirement to set TACs consistent with achieving the MSY objective by 2020 for all harvested stocks, the avoidance of serious choke risks, the need to meet EU objectives of managing fisheries in a way that is consistent with long term sustainability and generating social and economic and employment benefits, and in basing TAC decisions on the most recent scientific advice, including advice for zero catch in specific fisheries.
‘It is clear that not all these objectives can be achieved simultaneously, and so ministers must find a way through to the most reasonable trade-offs. Chokes could emerge with almost any stock, depending on changing scientific advice, whether TACs have been set at the right level or the rate of quota uptake,’ a spokesman for the NFFO commented, listing North Sea cod, Celtic Sea haddock and Irish Sea whiting as prime examples.
‘It is important to understand the distinction between scientific advice, and management decisions, not least because there are individuals and organisations in the NGO community, who routinely suggest that any difference results from irresponsible ministers and industry pressures. In fact, ICES scientific advice is the basis for all TAC decisions but catch advice generally includes a range of options for managers to consider. Managers (in this case fisheries ministers) have a responsibility to balance this advice with a range of other responsibilities,’ the NFFO’s spokesman said, commenting that these responsibilities extend to discard reduction and implementation of the landing obligation, including mitigation of choke risks, management of mixed fisheries, where a number of species are caught together and a TAC decision on one species has implications for others, socio-economic impacts (a staged approach to TAC reductions, where these are necessary, is a frequently used approach), and building stocks to deliver high average yields, which is usually understood in terms of MSY.
‘It is important that these management responsibilities and the trade-offs that they necessarily entail and properly understood. The general stocks picture, across all species groups in the North East Atlantic, is best captured in the following statement by ICES advisory committee chair Eskild Kirkegaard who stated that “Over the last ten to fifteen years, we have seen a general decline in fishing mortality in the Northeast Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. The stocks have reacted positively to the reduced exploitation and we’re observing growing trends in stock sizes for most of the commercially important stocks. For the majority of stocks, it has been observed that fishing mortality has decreased to a level consistent with Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) – meaning levels that are not only sustainable but will also deliver high long term yields.”’
Choke Risks
‘In the last two weeks, Fisheries Minister George Eustice has described the problem of choke risks as “intractable”. During the same period, a senior CEFAS scientist told a parliamentary committee that the consequence of fully enforced landing obligation would be chokes. Finally, a senior fisheries regulator recently described the landing obligation as “unenforceable”. These comments provide an idea of the scale of the challenge presented by the implementation of the landing obligation. Against this background the NFFO has entered into urgent discussions with the Marine Management Organisation and Defra to prepare for the full implementation of the new regime in the New Year.’
NFFO statement of intent
The EU landing obligation comes fully into force on 1st January 2019 and will then apply to all quota species, unless a specific de minimis or high survival exemption applies.
The full implementation of the landing obligation presents a number of challenges for the fishing industry, fisheries managers, and enforcement authorities, on a scale of magnitude not seen before. The problem of chokes in mixed fisheries, and the challenge of monitoring and controlling fishing activities in diverse fleets across a vast marine environment are at the top of the list of those challenges.
The regulatory regime underpinning the landings obligation is still in a period of adjustment, with important decisions still to be made at the December Council and beyond which will have a direct bearing on choke risks in specific fisheries.
There is a recognition that the year ahead could carry a number of serious risks to the economic wellbeing of the fleets and the integrity of the management regime.
Against this background, the Marine Management Organisation, Defra and the NFFO met in London on 4th December to discuss how to deal with this complex of issues in the coming year.
Draft Statement
Dealing with Chokes in 2019
- We are entering a difficult period of adjustment in which a pathway to compliance is not yet clear
- 2019 will be challenging in terms of choke risks and potentially low levels of compliance with the landing obligation in some fisheries
- The fishing industry and fisheries regulators should have a common objective in achieving a workable landing obligation and a high level of compliance
- There is a need to prepare to deal with contingencies that may arise during 2019
- Within a collaborative approach, a forum is required to bring together the insight and experience of vessel operators, producer organisations, the MMO and Defra, to deal with implementation issues as they arise. As well as responding to specific current issues, the forum could also provide a space in which new methods of monitoring and control, such as reference fleets and remote electronic monitoring, could be discussed.
- The overarching principle guiding the group should be that achieving a workable landing obligation and high levels of compliance, is a joint endeavour, with shared responsibility on vessel operators, producer organisations, fisheries managers, enforcement, control authorities and Defra policy officials. All affected parts of the fleet would be invited to participate in the work of the group.
- It will be important to send a public statement that the group has been formed and is focussed on developing solutions to outstanding problems.
