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Indicator Assessment
The EU fishing fleet displays strong regional differences in terms of its composition, but it is mostly made up of small vessels (59%). There has been a marked decrease in fishing fleet capacity (i.e. number of vessels) between 2004 and 2001, during which time small vessels decreased at an annual rate of approximately 1% and large vessels at 7% .
Most of the EU fishing effort is deployed by large vessels (74%) with mobile gears, of which the majority (61%) disturbs the seafloor. The decrease in capacity has been followed by a decrease in the effort of large vessels only (over 7% between 2004-2011), while the effort of small vessels has increased by approximately 5%. This is reflected in an overall shift towards gear with less impact on the seafloor.
The observed change of EU fishing effort and the shift towards gear with less impact is indicative of an overall decrease in fishing pressure and impact in European seas between 2004 and 2011.
Fishing fleet capacity and effort
The EU fishing fleet displays strong regional differences in terms of its composition. Small vessels constitute the majority of the fleet in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, and to a lesser extent those in the Baltic Sea, the Bay of Biscay and Western Waters regions (Figure 1). This is linked to recent changes in EU fishing fleet capacity (in terms of number of vessels) observed over the period 2004-2011 (Figure 2). Overall, fishing fleets decreased at a rate between approximately 1% per year for small vessels and more than 7% per year for large vessels (assuming that task specific engagement per vessel remains constant). The strong decrease in large vessels is observed across all regions (Black Sea not included in the analysis). The number of small vessels also decreased in the Baltic and Mediterranean Sea regions. Together with the Bay of Biscay, these are the three regions where there has been an overall net decrease in fishing fleet capacity in terms of number of vessels.
Although small vessels compose most (59%) of the EU fishing fleet, fishing effort is largely deployed by large vessels (74%) (Figure 3). The amount of fishing effort also differs considerably between regions. Effort exerted by large vessels dominates in every region except for the Black Sea. Most of the effort is deployed in the deep sea, which is also the largest region, followed by the North Sea. The least explored regions are the Bay of Biscay and the Baltic Sea. The observed trends in EU fishing fleet capacity, together with the shift towards smaller vessels, have also led to similar changes in terms of effort. Between 2004 and 2011, an almost 5% per year increase in the fishing effort deployed by small vessels was observed while that of large vessels decreased by more than 7% for the same period.
A comparison of the regional differences in capacity and effort clearly illustrates the weak relationship between the two. The Mediterranean fleet contributes 37% of the total EU capacity in terms of number of vessels, but only 14% of the EU effort. In contrast the deep sea region contributes only 18% of the total EU capacity, but 28% of the total EU effort.
Deployment of fishing gear and impact on the seabed
Most of the fishing effort (74%) uses mobile gear, of which the majority (61% of the effort) disturbs the sea floor (Figure 4). Bottom trawl and seine are the most common types of gear, and are applied by 43% of the fishing effort, followed by gillnets, pots and traps (23%). Regional differences are also observed reflecting the composition of regional fleets. The use of beam trawl and dredge, which have a high impact on the seafloor, is highest in the regions where large vessels are more common (i.e. in particular in the North Sea and the deep sea, followed by the western waters and Celtic Sea). These types of gear are only absent in the Black Sea and almost negligent in the Baltic Sea. On the other hand, the Black Sea is the only region where passive gear dominates over mobile gear.
In terms of change over time, between 2004 and 2011 (except for the Black Sea where data only became available from 2008 onwards), a decrease in the overall effort deployed by all types of gear is observed in the EU, in particular beam trawl and dredges (7.7%) and pelagic trawl and seines (7.2%) (Figure 5). At regional level, it is clear that there has been a marked decrease of effort deployed by bottom impacting gear across all regions, except for the Black Sea (bottom trawl/seines increased over 20% between 2008 and 2011) and in the Celtic Sea (pelagic trawl/seines increased 4.3%). An increase in more selective gear (in particular longlines) is also observed in the North Sea, Bay of Biscay, Western Waters and deep sea.
Although the impact of technological improvements has to be taken into account (see Rijnsdorp et al 2006), the observed change of EU fishing effort and the shift towards gear with less impact on the seabed is indicative of a decrease in fishing pressure and impact in European seas between 2004 and 2011. These signs, however, need to be further quantified to understand the actual effects of this reduction of fishing effort on the ecosystem.
References:
Rijnsdorp, AD., Daan, N. Dekker, W. 2006. Partial fishing mortality per fishing trip: a useful indicator of effective fishing effort in mixed demersal fisheries. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 63: 556–566.
This indicator shows the following per European marine region:
Capacity is defined in terms of size and numbers of vessels.
Fishing effort is expressed as kilowatt days-at-sea.
EU fisheries are regulated by the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The CFP was first implemented in 1983 to ensure the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources. It brought the management of fisheries by EU Member States under one system, while defining a common approach to the organisation of the domestic markets in fish and fish products and the structural development of national fishing fleets. Since then, it has evolved incrementally, undergoing reforms every ten years. Nevertheless, the CFP kept falling short on delivering its policy objectives. By the time the 3rd reform process was initiated, in 2009, there was a broad acknowledgment of the key CFP structural failings (EC, 2009). This led to a major revision bringing forth a new policy that came into force in January 2014.
The core objective of the new CFP is “to ensure that fishing and aquaculture activities are environmentally sustainable in the long-term and are managed in a way that is consistent with the objectives of achieving economic, social and employment benefits, and of contributing to the availability of food supplies". This means ensuring two key environmental objectives, one applying to fish stocks and the other to the ecosystem impact of fisheries.
The first of these objectives is that the populations of fish stocks be progressively restored and maintained above biomass levels that can produce the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY), while applying the precautionary approach. This sustainable biomass objective has been further translated into a management target, which is to ensure all fish stocks are exploited (i.e. the level of fishing pressure) at MSY rates by 2015, where possible, and by 2020 at the latest.
The second objective is to implement the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management. This requires a fundamental shift in the priorities of fisheries management and the knowledge underpinning it, where the aim is no longer to maximise the catch of single fish stocks but to minimise the impacts of fishing activities (including aquaculture) on the marine ecosystem.
The new CFP (2014) comes into a new environmental policy context with the entry into force of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in 2008 (EC, 2008). By adopting the ecosystem approach, the main MSFD objective is to reach or maintain Good Environmental Status (GES) of EU seas by 2020. The state of commercial fish stocks and the pressure and impacts of fisheries in the wider ecosystem (Descriptors 1, 3, 4 and 6) are recognised as key components of GES. In particular for fish stocks, GES is further described (Descriptor 3) as a level of exploitation that is at or below MSY, a reproductive capacity kept intact (meaning equal or greater than MSY), and a population age and size distribution indicative of a healthy stock. The MSFD objective of reaching GES by 2020 is thus intimately linked with the CFP objectives and coherence needs to be ensured, as further recognised in the CFP.
The new CFP (2014) environmental objectives and targets are:
The overall MSFD (2008) objective is to reach Good Environmental Status (GES) of the marine environment by 2020. For its descriptor D3 on commercial fish stocks, this means "Populations of all commercially exploited fish and shellfish are within safe biological limits, exhibiting a population age and size distribution that is indicative of a healthy stock". Concretely this means:
The calculations in this indicator are based on data that came from STECF EWG 13-13, which is based on data submitted by Member States in response to the DCF fishing effort data call in 2013. While this is probably the best source of information, and STECF notes a general improvement in Member States’ submissions with regard to data completeness and quality, the information is still compromised by delays in some Member States’ submissions, incomplete and erroneous data submissions and re-submissions.
STECF EWG 13-13 compiled information on nominal fishing effort by all European fleet segments (in units of kilowatt days-at-sea). That is presently the best data source for a comprehensive assessment of effort at European level.
The data was grouped by regional seas or areas as follows:
|
STECF code |
Regional Sea |
|
Bal |
Baltic sea |
|
BoB |
Bay of Biscay |
|
BS |
Black sea |
|
Cel1 |
Celtic sea |
|
Cel2 |
Celtic sea |
|
DS |
Deep sea |
|
FDFBAL |
Baltic sea |
|
FDFIIA |
North sea |
|
FDFIIC |
North sea |
|
IIa |
North sea |
|
IIb |
North sea |
|
IIc |
North sea |
|
MED |
Mediterranean |
|
WW |
Western Waters |
This is a first attempt to match these different sea areas to the regional seas considered under the MSFD and used in CSI032 (with the exception of the Deep Sea and Western Waters, which cover more than one sea) and, as yet, they are not always equivalent.
Based on available information on vessel length we distinguished between large and small vessels to better differentiate the fishing fleet. These segments have different technological characteristics and, hence, their potential and actual pressure and impact on the marine environment differs. The categories of vessel length differed between regions, therefore a 12 metre vessel length was applied as the threshold between large and small for the Baltic sea, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, while for the other areas this was 15 metres. The correspondence between the STECF vessel categories and the regional seas is as follows:
Baltic sea small: o8t10m o10t12m
Mediterranean and Black Sea small: VL0006 VL0012 VL0612
Other seas small: O10T15M
All other size categories were considered large for all seas.
The fishing effort of the European fleet is expressed in kilowatt days-at-sea by multiplying the engine power with the numbers of days it is deployed each year.
The fishing gear types have been divided into categories that differ in terms of relative seafloor impact (see table below). Five categories were identified based on fishing technique and gear type that impact the seafloor differently: mobile gear with high (MBH), low (MBL) and no impact (MP) on the seafloor, together with two types of passive gear of which PL has less impact than PGPT. The link to other categories used in STECF and in the Data Collection Framework (DCF) under the CFP is provided.
It should be noted that this is an indicative assessment based on expert judgment. In particular, the impact of techniques/gear with low impact on the seafloor should be seen as relative to those that have a high-impact in the category “Mobile Bottom” and not in absolute terms. The objective of such categorisation was to capture any shifts within the mobile bottom category towards a less impacting alternative.
Table - Categories of fishing technique and gear type based on impact on the seafloor.
|
Types of fishing techniques |
Codes used in STECF-13-21, 2013 |
Gear code specified for métiers In App. IV of Commission Decision 2010/93/EU |
Categories |
CSI034 Code |
||
|
Mobile gear |
Dredges |
|
DREDGE |
DRB, HMD |
Mobile Bottom High impact |
MBH |
|
Beam trawls |
|
BEAM , BT1, BT2, 3a |
TBB |
|||
|
Bottom trawls & demersal seines |
Bottom otter trawls, Multi-rig otter trawls or bottom pair trawls |
OTTER, TR1, TR2, TR3, 3a |
OTB, OTT, PTB |
Mobile bottom low impact |
MBL |
|
|
Fly shooting seines, anchored seines or pair seines |
DEM_SEINE |
SSC, SDN, SPR |
||||
|
Pelagic trawls & pelagic Seines |
Midwater otter trawls or midwater pair trawls |
PEL_TRAWL |
ОТМ, РТМ |
Mobile Pelagic |
MP |
|
|
Purse seines, fly shooting seines or anchored seines |
PEL_SEINE |
PS |
||||
|
Passive gears |
Drifting longlines or set longlines |
|
LONGLINE, 3c, LL1 |
LHP, UHM, ITL, LLD, LLS |
Passive longline |
PL |
|
Driftnets or set gillnets |
|
GILL, 3b, GN1 |
GNS, GND |
Passive gillnet, pots & traps |
PGPT |
|
|
Trammel nets |
|
TRAMMEL, 3b, 3t, GT1 |
GTR |
|||
|
Pots & traps |
|
POTS |
FPO |
|||
No gap filling has been applied
No methodology references available.
This indicator is a first attempt to match the different sea areas used to report under the Common Fisheries Policy and the regional seas of Europe relevant for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (with the exception of the Deep Sea and Western Waters, which cover more than one sea). As yet, they are not always equivalent and therefore hamper a comparison with e.g. CSI032 - Status of fish stock, which uses the regional seas of Europe sensu MSFD.
The reporting of capacity and effort of the European fishing fleet is based on the data of all EU-28 Member States reported in STECF-13-13. Data for the EU-7 Member States has only become available from 2004 onwards, while for the Black Sea region, data only covers the period after which Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU (2008 onwards). For the North Sea, Bay of Biscay, Celtic Seas, Western Waters and Deep Sea and Baltic sea data was available until 2012, for the Mediterranean and Black sea this was 2011.
Capacity is disaggregated by métiers and any further aggregation is representative only in relative terms under the assumption that vessel specific activities by metier are constant where more than one metier per vessel is conducted.
Nominal effort figures in units of kilowatt days by métiers can be further aggregated without any multiple counts.
While the aim of this indicator is to ultimately identify and calculate appropriate metrics for these two fishing-induced pressures, the current analysis presents two metrics that describe the activity in terms of its capacity and the effort exerted on the marine ecosystem. These two metrics can be calculated for all European marine waters with the data currently available. However, they should be considered crude proxies for fishing pressure (and associated impact), which is what this indicator ultimately strives to capture.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/fishing-fleet-capacity-2/assessment or scan the QR code.
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