Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On July 10th 2012, the North Sea RAC Mixed Fisheries Focus Group met to reflect upon recent ICES advice on stocks and the implications for mixed fisheries of cod, haddock and whiting.
What Happened
Presenting at the meeting, Steve Mackinson from Cefas updated the group on the recent Long Term Management Plan (LTMP) workshop convened by GAP2 in Brussels on the 5th July. He also gave an update on the EU FP7 project MYFISH, and on Cefas’ work on developing ecosystem modelling tools to explore options and outcomes of mixed fishery strategies.
Stuart Reeves, Fisheries Policy Officer at the European Commission, asked how the Commission could help promote the development of LTMPs, recognising their importance at a policy level. Steve Mackinson pointed out that until now the Commission has led the development of management plans, but that stakeholders urgently need to become part of the process.
It was also decided that for effective collaboration, a few specific members of the North Sea RAC Demersal Working Group should engage closely with GAP2 and MYFISH.
Kari Stange attended as an observer in relation to her PhD work on WP3 of GAP2.
The draft report of the meeting can be found here.