Technical eXperts Overseeing Third country eXpertise TXOTX. 3th Newsletter - September 2011
TXOTX successful
stakeholder workshop
T
in Bilbao
his last project event was held in Bilbao (Spain) on the 12 and 13 of May 2011. The workshop was attended by 31 participants, with 19 of these people being guest stakeholders and 12 TXOTX partners. Participants belonged to a large array of organizations and institutions dealing with fisheries management, science production, research services and advice, fisheries development and industry stakeholders in many large marine areas of the world. We would like to highlight the involvement of experts from organizations specializing in: Indian Ocean fisheries such as Seychelles Fisheries Authority (SFA), Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS), and South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC); in the Pacific Ocean, the Government of Nauru and Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP) de Chile; in the North Atlantic Fisheries, the International Council for the Explorations of the Seas (ICES), North Atlantic Salmon Commission (NASCO), North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAAMCO) and North American Ocean and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA). We also acknowledge the relevance of the participation of experts in the West African fisheries such as Sub-regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC), Mauritanian Institute for Oceanographic Research and Fisheries (IMROP), Institut National de Recherche Halieutique (INRH), Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic Fisheries (CECAF) and The Status of Benguela Current Communication (BCC). There were also representatives of industry stakeholders such as Asociación Nacional de Buques Atuneros Congeladores (ANABAC) and Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) such as Long Distant RAC. On the side of research institutions we would like to highlight the involvement of Instituto Español de Oceanografia (IEO), University of Louisiana, University of Cape Town, Imperial College, Cefas and AZTI Tecnalia. All these research institutions greatly contributed to the many aspects of the workshop due to their wide expertise in fisheries in diverse regions around the world. Table 1 and 2 show the number of participants involved by category. The workshop relied on breakout group work to achieve its objectives in identifying research gaps and needs, best practice, collaboration and dissemination. On the first day, participants
were organized in regional sub-groups to discuss TXOTX recommendations. On the second day, participants were organized in groups with regard to their expertise with regard to target species (tuna and non-tuna) and country issues. The aim at this second round of group work was also to discuss the project’s recommendations. Group work on the second day was aimed at the development and application of best practices for research and research coordination. The last segment of the meeting was devoted to obtaining consensus amongst participants on the outcomes and to explain how stakeholder feedback would be applied to the final report. The outcome of the working group comprised of a set of 23 recommendations that deal with the following issues: Development of research plans; Management Strategy Evaluations (MSE) as a means to develop Harvest Control Rules (HCRs); management of non-target species; inclusion of targets and limits in fisheries management; communication amongst RFMOs; coordination of funding; coverage of observers programs; availability of observes data; working groups between RFMOs; research for effort controls; regional coordination on research and monitoring needs; transparency of stock assessments; operationalization of Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM); peer review of scientific outcomes; integration and validity of data sources; basis for stock unit definitions; duration of science programs; terms and conditions for provision of data; and management and monitoring mechanism for new fisheries. Table 1. Organization of participants into species and country issues Expert
Non-tuna Tuna
Country
Total
Invited
9
4
5
18
Partners
4
4
5
13
Total general
13
8
10
31