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November 1999 No. 14
The European Association of Fisheries Economists

 

 

 

5th Framework Programme

 

At the time of print the Commission was not in a position to disclose information on the legal approval of proposals made under the 5th Framework Programme. However, a list of those proposals that are currently undergoing the negotiation procedure can be given, with details outlined below. All projects are due to commence in January 2000, assuming successful negotiations.

 

TEMEC - Technical Efficiency in EU Fisheries: Implications for monitoring and management through effort control (Project length: 3 years).

 

Research team:

CEMARE, UK (Coord. Sean Pascoe)

NCFS, Norway

MEMPES, Spain

NAGREF, Greece

IME-SDU, Denmark

SJFI, Denmark

 

Project summary:

Effort control measurements in the EU are currently based largely on the reduction of capacity, measured in terms of days fished, engine power and gross tonnage. However, effort depends on factors other than the physical characteristics of the vessel and the number of days fished. These factors manifest themselves as differences in the level of technical efficiency of the vessels.

 

Understanding the extent to which technical efficiency varies in different fishing fleets has implications for the targeting and effectiveness of effort control programmes. Differences in apparent technical efficiency may be due, however, to misreporting of landings.

 

Multi-output measures of technical efficiency will be derived and applied to a range of different fishing fleets. The possible effects of misreporting on these measures will be estimated and implications for monitoring and effort control measures derived.

 

MOFISH - Multiple Objectives in the Management of EU Fisheries (Project length: 3 years).

 

Research team:

CEMARE, UK (Coord. Simon Mardle)

CEDEM, France

MEMPES, Spain

SJFI, Denmark

IFM, Denmark

 

Project summary:

The CFP embodies multiple objectives (biological, economic and social) in its aims for the management of fisheries in EU waters. However, there has been significant criticism of the CFP concerning its effectiveness to these aims. The main reason for this is that important sectors of the industry feel that their best interests are not taken into account when management policy is being defined.

 

This project analyses the objective structure throughout EU fisheries, from the perspectives of all key players: managers, politicians, fishers, researchers and other interest groups. Objective preferences and opinions from these groups are to be elicited.

 

Multi-objective models will be developed and analysed to consider existing and future management goals for several case studies; English Channel, North Sea and Spanish fisheries. The project is multi-disciplinary drawing on expertise from economics, mathematics, computer science and fisheries.    

 

VALFEZ - Value of Exclusion Zones as a Fisheries Management Tool in Europe: A Strategic Evaluation and Development of an Analytical Framework (Project length: 2 years).

 

Research team:

CEMARE, UK (Coord. Helen Pickering)

School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, UK

CNR-IRMA, Sicily

CEDEM, France

 

Additional institutions will be involved as sub-contractors once work packages 1 and 2 have been completed and the case studies have been selected.

 

Project summary:

Exclusion zones have a long history in Europe. However, the analysis of their potential and value for fisheries management is lacking, as is management advice. This project aims to (a) evaluate the ecological and socio-economic value of exclusion zones as tools of fisheries management and (b) develop robust multi-disciplinary analytical framework(s) and model(s) for use in the evaluation and development of exclusion zones. This will include, inter alia, marine protected areas, marine reserves, marine parks, gear exclusion zones and fishing boxes.

 

The modelling framework will be multi-disciplinary (bio-ecological, socio-economic and institutional), with a space-structured, multi-species, multi-fleet, inter-temporal bio-economic model at its core. It will use existing case studies and data sets wherever possible.

 

Via building on previous work on the empirical evaluation of expected returns from research and testing the sensitivity of value and the model(s) developed to data uncertainty, future research needs to optimise the returns to fisheries management will also be targeted.

 

SALMAR - Margins Along the European Seafood Value Chain: Impact of the salmon industry on market structures (Project length: 3 years). 

Research team:

LEN-CORRAIL, France (Coord. Patrice Guillotreau)

CFE, SNF, Norway

CEMARE, UK

FGFRI, Finland

ADETTI, ISCTE, Portugal

OÏKOS, France

 

Project summary:

The basic issue of the project is to look at economic interactions along the value chain for two groups of fish species, one being mainly based on aquacultured species ("salmonids", i.e. salmon and trout) and the other on wild-caught species ("whitefish", i.e. gadoid species).

 

While imports and aquaculture are often considered by their harming effects on the European fishing industry, it is expected that the development of fish farming and increased imports may have been job-creating and value-adding at the overall economic level of the seafood value chain (processing, trade companies, wholesaling, retailing etc.), resulting in implications for the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy.

 

This hypothesis will be discussed through various quantitative (time series analysis, industrial organisation models) and qualitative (survey) methods. In particular, the dynamics of margin behaviours experienced by the stakeholders along the European value chain will be analysed

 

FISHREG - Fishery regulation and the economic responses of fishermen: Perceptions and Compliance (Project length: 3 years).

 

Research team:

CEMARE, UK (Coord. Aaron Hatcher)

IDDRA, France

CEDEM, France

University of Vigo, Spain

University of Girona, Spain

IREPA, Italy

 

Project summary:

The project will develop and employ a methodology to investigate fishermen's responses, both psychic and behavioural, to fishery regulations. The responses of fishermen will be investigated in six fisheries in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Using econometric analysis, empirical models will be estimated to derive predictive relationships between types of regulation and their mode of implementation and the responses of fishermen, including most importantly their compliance behaviour. The aim is to inform the development of fisheries management instruments and governance structures in order to improve compliance levels and the effectiveness of management.

 

The central objective is to develop a better understanding of the way in which fishermen respond to regulations. This includes their knowledge of regulations, their perceptions of the economic implications of regulations, normative and other psychic responses to regulations (such as judgements about the rightness of compliance and the perceived legitimacy of the regulations), their perceptions of the attitudes of fellow fishermen to the regulations, and how these factors affect their behaviour, in particular their compliance with the regulations. The key specific objectives are to develop a methodology and to derive and compare empirical models from a number of fisheries. The results will inform policy-makers and regulatory authorities of the significance of the way in which regulations are designed and implemented in determining levels of compliance and hence the cost effectiveness of enforcement and the efficiency of fisheries management.

 

Dominique Levieil of DG FISH would like to draw attention to the Commission's February 10 deadline for Accompanying Measures (e.g. methodology analyses that assist research, workshops, conferences etc,). Further details can be found on www.cordis.lu/life/home.html, which was updated at the end of October, following the last round of proposal evaluation.  

 

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