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
TXOTX. 3th Newsletter - September 2011
Table 2. List of participants Participant
Institute
Region
RFMO/Country
Role
Narriman Jiddawi
IMS
Indian
Country
Partner
Tim Adams
PACIFIC
Pacific
Country
Expert
Alioune Badara
ACP2
West Africa
Country
Expert
Andy Payne
CEFAS
West Africa
Country
Expert
Hamady Diop
SRFC
West Africa
Country
Expert
Mahfoudh Taleb Sidi
IMROP
West Africa
Country
Expert
Geoff Tingley
CEFAS
West Africa
Country
Partner
Pia Orr
IC
West Africa
Country
Partner
Salah Ben Cherifi
INRH
West Africa
Country
Partner
Abdelfattah Assabir
INRH
West Africa
Country
Partner
Hassan Hussain Rasheed
SWIOFC
Indian
Non-tuna
Expert
Gerd Hubold
ICES
North Atlantic
Non-tuna
Expert
Malcom Windsor
NASCO
North Atlantic
Non-tuna
Expert
Mario Aquarone
NAMMCO
North Atlantic
Non-tuna
Expert
Fernando González
IEO
North Atlantic
Non-tuna
Expert
Carlos Aldereguía
LDRAC
North Atlantic
Non-tuna
Expert
Phil Large
CEFAS
North Atlantic
Non-tuna
Partner
Raul Prellezo
AZTI-Tecnalia
North Atlantic
Non-tuna
Expert
Tony Beeching
CEFAS
Pacific
Non-tuna
Partner
Juan Carlos Quiroz
IFOP
Pacific
Non-tuna
Partner
Eduardo Balguerías
IEO-CECAF
West Africa
Non-tuna
Expert
Hashali Hamukuaya
BCC
West Africa
Non-tuna
Expert
Doug Butterworth
UCT
West Africa
Non-tuna
Partner
Rondolph Payet
SWIOFP
Indian
Tuna
Expert
Hilario Murua
AZTI-Tecnalia
Indian
Tuna
Partner
Paul de Bruyn
AZTI-Tecnalia
Indian
Tuna
Partner
Roy Clarisse
SFA
Indian
Tuna
Partner
Anertz Muniategi
ANABAC
Indian
Tuna
Expert
Gerry Scott
NOAA
North Atlantic
Tuna
Expert
Joseph E. Powers
Lousiana State Uni.
Pacific
Tuna
Expert
Martín Aranda
AZTI-Tecnalia
Pacific
Tuna
Partner
Rafael Duarte
DG Mare - UE
North Atlantic
Tuna
Expert
TXOTX. 3th Newsletter - September 2011
TXOTX
meeting in London
T
his meeting was held at the Imperial College of London on the 16-18 of November. The objectives of the meeting were to review the outcomes of WP2 and identify and propose actions for WP3, 4 and 5. Also, a draft GAP and SWOT analysis were drafted, recommendations were discussed, case studies selected and proposed cross cutting issues and recommendations for the last stage of the project were proposed. This meeting was attended by TXOTX partners with important input from experts such as Andy Payne of Cefas, Alejandro Anganuzzi of Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), and Joe Powers of the University of Louisiana. This meeting was especially useful for paving the way for the stakeholder workshop of Bilbao (May 2011).
Txotx
6-month extension
A
of the project and administrative issues
s you are aware the official end of the TXOTX project was scheduled for the 31st of March. We made a request to the EU for a 6-month extension of the project in order to have more time to finalize the work. This is the reason why the final workshop was delayed until May 2011. In March 2011, we received a letter from EU informing us that the EU had accepted the extension and, therefore, the TXOTX project end date was officially moved to the 30th of September 2011. Thus, we will soon need to justify any cost incurred in the project until the new date of finalization. Please, remind your administrative department in order to speed up expense declarations.
dissemination
TXOTX contribution to joint
Tuna RFMOs meeting
F
ollowing the presentation by Dr. Hilario Murua about “Enhanced cooperation between tuna RFMOs” during the Joint Tuna RFMOs, Meeting of experts to share best practices on the provision of scientific advice of the Kobe II process, various recommendations were agreed during the course of that meeting. Among them the recommendations for the Tuna RFMOs Scientific Committees chairs to establish an annotated list of common issues that could be addressed jointly by tuna RFMOs and prioritize them for discussion at the Kobe 3 meeting. While formal exchanges between tRFMO SC Chairs have not generally occurred over the intervening time, there have been a few which address common scientific issues across Tuna RFMOs. Among those, the outcomes of the Technical Experts Overseeing Third Country Expertise (TXOTX) project Final stakeholder workshop can be considered as a positive contribution in support of developing common scientific issues between Tuna-RFMOs. As mentioned above, during the final TXOTX WS the participants agreed about the importance of the development of research plans and to use of Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) as a means to develop Harvest Control Rules. This is a tool that allows the evaluation of the performance of harvest control rules in relation to pre-agreed reference points that are translated into management actions. MSE is a participative approach involving all stakeholders, from scientists to managers, the industry and the fishing communities, and can be considered a key process in the implementation of the precautionary approach as well as to identify research priorities. Dr. Hilario Murua attended the 3rd Joint Meeting of the Tuna RFMOs hold in La Jolla between 11 and 14 of July 2011. He presented the outputs of the TXOTX Final Workshop to the Scientific Chair discussion group and, as the development of the MSE is a global process for tuna fisheries, the creation of a Joint MSE Technical Working Group was agreed between the Tuna-RFMOs during the 3rd Joint Meeting of the Tuna RFMOs.
TXOTX
in the news
A
fter the project Final Workshop, several interviews were published and broadcasted in the public media, such as an interview with Dr. Hilario Murua and Dr. Joseph Powers on Basque Television and the Spanish National Radio. In addition, a full interview with the project coordinator, Dr. Hilario Murua, was published in Europa Azul Journal (nº 123 http://www.europaazul.es/numeros-antiguos.php) which contains an overview of the project, highlighting its main objectives, partners and the importance of the project in terms of network contraction and collaboration with regards to maritime regions where fish stocks resources are shared. Moreover, local newspapers echoed the Final Workshop meeting including the description of the objectives of the project as well as the expected outputs. The interview and article are downloadable from TXOTX Wiki.
Stakeholder workshop in Bilbao (Spain)
Goodbye greetings
from the coordinator
T
ime has passed very quickly since the TXOTX project start in San Sebastian on April 2008. Now, it is time to close the door on TXOTX. However, as we were working to contribute to a coherent coordinated approach towards research directed at assessment and management of marine resources, I hope that we have built basic and fundamental relationships for fruitful collaborations in the near future. The last 3 and a half years has had its ups and downs whilst navigating the path of the project. There have been problems and solutions but looking back I must admit that it has been a good lesson to learn and, on top of that, a piece of work that all us can be proud of, at least from the Coordinator point of view. Without doubt the TXOTX team has worked together to fulfil our tasks and achieve the project goals. I hope that the work carried out as well as the relationships gained will serve us all
Projects’
well in the future. It was a great pleasure meeting most of you personally during the project and I am looking forward to working with all of you for a fruitful collaboration promptly.
Goodbye!!! See you soon ‌
Working Calendar
Date
Event/actions required
30th July
WP 4 Deliverables (D 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3)
30 September
WP 5 Deliverables (D 5.7, 5.8, and 5.9)
30 September
End of the project
30 November
2nd Interim Report (technical and finantial) delivered to the EU
30th November
Final PROJECT REPORT delivered to the EU
th th th