STUDY Policy Department Structural and Cohesion Policies ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF FISHING GEARS AND THE SOCIOECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR MODIFICATION, SUBSTITUTION OR SUPPRESSION FISHERIES September 2007 EN Directorate General Internal Policies of the Union Policy Department Structural and Cohesion Policies FISHERIES ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF FISHING GEARS AND THE SOCIOECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR MODIFICATION, SUBSTITUTION OR SUPPRESSION IP/B/PECH/IC/2006-179 30/09/2007 PE 375.312 EN This study was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Fisheries. This paper is published in the following language: - Original: EN. Author: Jose FRANCO1 Responsible Official: Jesús IBORRA MARTÍN Policy Department Structural and Cohesion Policies European Parliament Rue Wiertz 60 B-1047 Brussels E-mail: [email protected] Manuscript completed in October 2007. This study is available on Internet: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/expert/eStudies.do?language=EN Brussels, European Parliament, 2007. The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorized, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. 1 AZTI TECNALIA, Txatxarramendi ugartes, z/g 48395 Sukarrieta, Bizkaia, Spain Directorate General Internal Policies of the Union Policy Department Structural and Cohesion Policies FISHERIES ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF FISHING GEARS AND THE SOCIOECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR MODIFICATION, SUBSTITUTION OR SUPPRESSION STUDY Content: The purpose of the study is to provide the committee on Fisheries with a clear and detailed description of the recent developments in fishing gears and fishing techniques in order to improve selectivity and reduce impacts on the habitats. The study describes the environmental effects of fishing gears and analyzes the technical measures in each of the fishing gears, the economic performance of European fishing fleet and the implications of modifications, substitution or suppression of fishing gears. IP/B/PECH/IC/2006-179 PE 375.312 EN Environmental effects of fishing gears Executive summary In the European Union alone (EU-25) the fishing activity produced in 2004 approximately 6.8 B€ worth of fish. The total number of fishing vessels in that year was 92.178. In 2006, the total number of fishing vessels was 82.476. The sustainability of the fishing activity of these units requires improving cost-effectiveness and reducing its environmental impact. To ensure the exploitation of living aquatic resources that provides sustainable economic, environmental and social conditions the CFP adopts (between others) technical measures. Existing legislation of those technical measures are defined by the Council Regulation (EC) 850/98 of 30 March 1998 (2), which is under revision and has been amended by several Council Regulations. The present study covers several aspects: • Description of the EU fishing fleet (Chapter 2); • Description of the EU fishing gears (Chapter 3 and 7); • Fishing gears and the marine environment (Chapter 4); • Technical measures for improving fishing gears (Chapter 5); • Implications of modifications, substitution or suppression of fishing gears (Chapter 6). In Chapters 2 the focus is on the analysis of the European fishing fleet and the description of its performance. At the end of 2.006, the total number of fishing vessels were 87.426, with a total GT of 1.965.440 and a power of 7.105.513 kW. The approximate employment was 181.610 people. • From the 27 member states of the European Union, 22 have a registered marine fishing fleet (including Bulgaria and Romania). • EU fishing fleet has reduced its figures in last years in spite of the increase of Members States: 88.106 fishing vessels, a total tonnage of 2.005.008 GT and an engine power of 7.194.600 KW. • EU fishing fleet (EU-25) performs its fishing activity in most world waters, obtaining a catch around 5.5 millions tonnes, where the NE Atlantic Area represents 85%. • Five countries (Denmark, Spain, France, United Kingdom and Netherlands) accounts for the 64% of all the European production (EU-25). • Italy has the best ratio ‘value of landings/total quantity of landings’: 5.011€/t. France and Spain comes in the second and third place for this ratio, with 2.627€/t and 2.151 €/t respectively (year 2005). • A large part of the European fleet relies on access to non-Community fish resources either in waters under the jurisdiction of third countries with which the European Community has fisheries agreements, or in international waters. • Around 2.500 fishing vessels operate in EU distant waters. The 80% of this EU fleet (around 2000 fishing vessels) works in non-Community waters north of the EC (Greenland, Norway, Iceland and Faeroes Islands). The rest of the fishing vessels involved in non-Community waters south of the EC are trawlers (bottom and midwater), tuna purse seiners, tuna pole and line vessels and surface longliners. 2 OJ L 125, 27.4.1998, p. 1. iii PE 375.312 Environmental effects of fishing gears Chapter 3 deals with the fishing gears used by the European fleet: • European fishing fleets use 27 different fishing gears: surrounding nets (purse seines and lampara nets), seine nets (beach, Danish, Scottish and pair seines), trawls (beam trawls, bottom otter trawls, bottom pair trawls, midwater otter trawls, midwater pair trawls and otter twin trawls), dredges (hand, boat and mechanized and suction dredges), lift nets (boat operated), gillnets and entangling nets (set gillnets, driftnets, encircling nets, trammel nets and combined gillnet-trammel nets), traps (pots), hooks and lines (hand and pole lines, set longlines, drifting longlines and trolling lines). • The most important fishing gears can be grouped in 9 main fishing gears: o purse seines o seines o beam trawls o bottom trawls o midwater trawls o dredges o gillnets o pots o hooks and lines • Active fishing gears are used by fleets that show more GT than passive fishing gears (1.585.157 GT vs 380.283 GT) while passive fishing gears comprise more fishing vessels (68.155 vs 19.271). • Set gillnets and set longlines are principal fishing gears according to the number of fishing vessels, while bottom trawls and midwater trawls are the principal fishing gears according to the total tonnage. • Only 22 fleets from 12 countries account for the 70% of the total tonnage. Five of the 22 fleets belong to Spain. Chapter 4 is concentrated in the analysis of the interactions of the fishing gears with the marine environment. The effects of the fishing gears are analyzed according to previous studies related with the interactions between fishing gears and the marine environment. Special attention is paid to size and species selectivity, bycatch, catch of sensible species and interactions between fishing gears and the sea bottom. In Chapter 5, technical measures for improving the fishing gears are discussed. The summary of findings for the 9 main categories of fishing gears related with its selectivity, impacts on species and on habitats and the technical measures implemented is the following: 1. Purse seine a) Selectivity: - purse seining is a non-selective gear regarding fish size. - catches normally consist of a single species with a rather narrow length distribution. b) Impacts on species: - the potential negative impact may come from occasional bycatch/discards effects (undersize specimens, no marketable specimens, non-target species, etc.). c) Impacts on habitats: iv PE 375.312 Environmental effects of fishing gears - there is no impact on the bottom habitat except when the water depth is less than the height of the purse seine. d) Measures and devices: - Limits on the depth - selective panels - selective grids - Dolphin Mortality Limits (DML) - Dolphin Safety Panel (DCP) for releasing marine mammals 2. Seines a) Selectivity: - mesh size is the main factor in seine nets size selectivity. b) Impacts on species: - the potential negative impact may come from occasional bycatch/discards effects (undersize specimens, no marketable specimens, non-target species, etc.) and results from the use of a large net, with, frequently, too small meshes, in coastal waters. c) Impacts on habitats : - The impact on the sea bed (flat and smooth bottom) is limited. d) Measures and devices: - mesh selection panels. 3. Beam trawls a) Selectivity: - mesh size is the main factor in beam trawl size selectivity. - differences in netting material can bring differences in size selectivity. b) Impacts on species: - capture and frequently discarding of non target sizes and species both of fish and non- fish species. - serious effects on large sessile fauna. c) Impacts on habitats: - the sole plates and the thickler chaines make substantial impact to the sea bottom. d) Measures and devices: - Benthos release panel - Electrical stimulation (electric fishing regulated in ices zones IVc and IVb). 4. Bottom trawls a) Selectivity: - mesh size is the main factor in bottom trawl size selectivity. - differences in netting material can bring differences in size selectivity. b) Impacts on species: - capture and frequently discarding of non target sizes and species both of fish and non- fish species. - serious effects on large sessile fauna. c) Impacts on habitats : - irreversible habitat effects on hard bottoms. In soft bottom habitats will be restored with time. v PE 375.312 Environmental effects