Dutch Natura 2000 sites in the North Sea

The theme of the workshop was ´conflict analysis´ where the conflict in question was that between fisheries and the North Sea nature.

Charlotte Deerenberg of IMARES prepared an analysis which was approved and supplemented where necessary by the participants.

Major documents will be published here soon. Follow the twitter to keep in touch.

Pictures of the presentations of the results of the breakout groups of prof Han Lindeboom (NL, Imares), Godfried van Moorsel (Ecosub, consultant) and Kate Tanner (RSPB) can be found here: http://tweetphoto.com/user/4874906

Participant to FIMPAS workshop 2, Hardelot, France

The next step in the FIMPAS process is workshop 3 ´Management Options´.

This workshop will take place in January in the Netherlands, problably in Den Helder of on the isle of Texel.

http://www.noordzee.nl/actueel_artikel.php?contentID=346

6 juni 2010

Stichting De Noordzee luidt noodklok

Vandaag publiceert Stichting De Noordzee (SDN) een rapport waaruit onomstotelijk blijkt dat boomkorvisserij ernstig negatieve gevolgen heeft, zowel op het bodemleven als op vispopulaties in de Noordzee. Het signaal is duidelijk: boomkorvisserij moet stoppen.

De vijf belangrijkste conclusies uit het rapport zijn:
 Populaties van soorten die langleven en zich langzaam reproduceren, zoals haaien en roggen, lopen het meeste gevaar
 De soortensamenstelling van het bodemecosysteem verandert
 Er is een verlies aan biodiversiteit
 Vissoorten worden kleiner, omdat ze steeds minder tijd hebben zich te reproduceren
 De beschikbaarheid van voedsel voor aasetende (vis)soorten wordt vergroot

“Uit het rapport blijkt eens te meer dat er voor de boomkorvisserij in de toekomst op de Noordzee geen plaats is, en het moet dan ook vervangen worden door een veel kleinschaligere en natuurvriendelijke vorm van visserij”, zegt Monique van de Water van Stichting De Noordzee.

Er is altijd veel discussie tussen natuurbeschermingsorganisaties en de visserij over de effecten van bodemberoerende visserij op het leven in zee. Vissers zijn van mening dat bodemberoering goed is voor platvis. Bodemberoering zorgt namelijk voor een toename van kortlevende soorten zoals wormen: het voedsel voor platvis. Natuurorganisaties wijzen op de aantasting van leefgebieden, de kraamkamer functie van deze gebieden en het verdwijnen van grote en langlevende soorten uit de Noordzee.

Wereld Oceanen Dag
Tijdens Wereld Oceanen Dag in Diergaarde Blijdorp op 6 juni, vraagt Stichting De Noordzee aandacht voor beschermde gebieden in de Noordzee. SDN presenteert ’s middags het Engelstalige rapport ‘Impacts of beam trawl fisheries in the North Sea’, geschreven door bureau Waardenburg. Het rapport is een samenvatting van 55 wetenschappelijk publicaties over de impact van boomkorvisserij op het leven in de Noordzee. Volgens Stichting De Noordzee en mede opdrachtgever Greenpeace is er voldoende bewijs om boomkorvisserij in de beschermde gebieden van de Noordzee onmiddelijk te verbieden.

By Ton IJlstra

Published in MPA NEWS  Vol. 11, No. 6  May-June 2010

http://depts.washington.edu/mpanews/issues.html#MayJun2010

North Sea coastal states have identified marine protected areas in their offshore areas.  This has been done by request of the European Commission (EC) within the context of the increasing importance of nature conservation in the European Union.  Within the MPAs, conservation objectives have been established.  Fishing activities (especially bottom trawling) constitute the most important threat to these objectives.

However, measures to reduce adverse effects by fishing activities are not simple.  Coastal states have to comply with EU regulations and they need the agreement of the EU before adopting any fisheries measures relating to the protection of the marine environment.  Gaining international agreement on protection strategies poses challenges for the Netherlands and other coastal states.

The Netherlands has designated – or is in the process of designating – seven MPAs for the purpose of implementing the European nature conservation program Natura 2000.  Four sites are in the coastal zone (out to 6 nm from shore) and three sites are in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Netherlands.

Management of sites in an international context

The main activities in the international North Sea with regard to nature conservation are extraction of oil and gas, shipping, and fishing.  In the coastal areas, recreational use is important.  In addition, very large marine areas will be required for wind energy farms.

EU member states may designate their own sites to be protected and may establish their own protective regimes.  In doing so, they are not required to account for any MPAs or adopted regimes of neighboring states.  Several MPAs designated or planned by the Netherlands border marine areas of other states.  One Dutch MPA – Vlakte van de Raan – borders Belgian waters, whereas another (Cleaver Bank) borders UK waters.  A Dutch MPA around the country’s portion of Doggerbank borders the EEZs of Germany and the UK.  (A small part of the Doggerbank is in the Danish EEZ.)  In most cases, the corresponding areas on the other side of these boundary lines have not been designated as MPAs.  The Doggerbank is the only exception, where Germany has already designated its part of the ecosystem as an MPA.  (The UK has announced its intention to do so with its respective portion of Doggerbank, but Denmark has indicated it will not identify its portion as an MPA.)  As a result, fishing and other activities in shared ecosystems will be subject to different conservation regimes.  This is clearly undesirable from a management or protection point of view.

A complicating element is the role of the EU in the North Sea with regard to fisheries management.  The EU decides on the development of stock management regimes for fisheries.  The EU either consents (within a 12-nm zone from shore) or decides (within EEZs) on these measures.  Member states of the EU may set environmental protection measures in their MPAs, but the measures apply only to fishing vessels flying their flag.  They are not allowed to implement these same measures for vessels flying a foreign flag – unless the EU consents to or decides on such protection.  Thus all EU fishing vessels generally have access to, and may fish inside of, MPAs designated by member states.  As a result, to protect the MPAs they have designated in their own waters, the states must seek the consent of the European Commission in the coastal zone or an EC decision in the EEZ.

The Dutch response

The EC has decided that MPA site selection and the adoption of protective measures is a matter for the individual coastal states.  It has issued informal procedural rules with which coastal states should comply.  Among these, coastal states must:

- Develop a protective regime;

- Ask the EC to agree with that protective regime;

- Consult with international users, other coastal states, regional advisory councils, and socio-economic commissions on the protective regime; and

- Consult with all flag states whose interests may be affected by the measures.

This is a complex procedure since the Netherlands has maritime borders with three coastal states, and some 10 flag states fish in the Dutch part of the North Sea.  To coordinate this procedure, the Netherlands has involved the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) in this process.  ICES was invited to organize an international, science-based, and stakeholder-driven process involving all relevant user groups.  This project – FIMPAS (FIsheries Measures in Protected AreaS) – involves environmental NGOs, fisheries organizations in Europe, and scientists in a process to identify fisheries management options for the Dutch MPAs in the North Sea.  In a series of three workshops (2010 – 2011) ICES’ Advisory Committee will advise the Dutch government on what fisheries measures should be taken to achieve the conservation targets.  After the third workshop on management options (January 2011), it will become clear whether this international process will have yielded satisfactory results.  (Follow FIMPAS on Twitter: @fimpas.)

Ideally, an international MPA should have one homogeneous set of conservation objectives.  This is the main challenge for coastal states.  Involving stakeholders successfully in the planning and management of transboundary MPAs also presents many challenging aspects, including identifying appropriate representatives of user groups.

The strategy of the Dutch government with respect to these issues is to seek international cooperation at an early stage, establish an independent science regime through ICES, and give stakeholders the opportunity to participate at different levels in the management process.  The results will be known toward the end of 2011.

For more information:

Ton IJlstra, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Food Quality, The Hague, Netherlands. E-mail: a.h.ijlstra@minlnv.nl; Web:www.noordzeenatura2000.nl

Dear All

I wrote to you concerning the 2nd FIMPAS workshop on 08 March 2010. Since then the North Sea RAC (NSRAC) has decided to hold its ExCOM meeting on 28-29 June in Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France. This decision clashes with the dates I indicated for the FIMPAS workshop( 28-30 June 2010). The FIMPAS process is about achieving a joint approach to regulating fisheries within the Natura 2000 sites in the Dutch EEZ outside 12 nm from the baseline and involves industry, NGO’s, and management. it is important that the industry and the NGO’s fully participate in the FIMPAS process As both groups are represented in the North Sea RAC a clash in dates could be detrimental to the FIMPAS process. Therefore the dates for the FIMPAS workshop were changed and are now:
30 June (start 11am) – 2 July (close 1pm) 2010
The North Sea RAC holds it ExCOM meeting in Boulogne-sur-mer, France. In order to facilitate the participation of those that attend the NSRAC meeting, the 2nd FIMPAS workshop will be in

Best Western Hôtel du Parc ***

111 avenue François 1er
62152 HARDELOT
Tel : 00 33 (0)3 21 33 48 10
Fax : 00 33 (0)3 21 83 29 71
www.hotelduparc-hardelot.com

Hôtel du Parc is is about 17 km from Boulogne-sur-mer (train) and 60 km from Calais (TVG train), by car about 2.5 hours from Paris or Brussels.

The draft agenda for the meeting is
Wednesday 30 June
11:00-12:30: Opening and layout of work
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14-16: Update on data issues that are outstanding from Workshop 1 (IMARES)
16-17:30 Gear considerations that were raised during Workshop 1 including gillnet issues. The Dutch industry has investigated gillnet fishing outside 12nm and informed FIMPAS that only 1 vessel operates gillnets outside 12nm.
17:30-18:00 Coffee with a snack
18-20 Presentation of back ground paper with Conflict analysis (the gear discussion might be short and included in the Update presentation14-16. The time will then be used for discussion of the conflict analysis.
Dinner 20:00

Thursday 1 July
9-10 The socio-economic investigations, workplans and preliminary results (Eric Buisman or Hans Oostenbrugge, LEI)
10-12:30 Breakout groups (3 groups one for each area). The task is to consider the conflict analysis for each area (Chairs: …..). In parallel with these sessions the economists and sociologists will meet to further develop the workplan for the socio-economic analysis to be presented at workshop 3.
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14-17:30 Breakout groups (Area) – Conclusion on an area by area basis and preparing presentations
17:30-18:00 Coffee with a snack
18-20 Plenum: Presentation of the findings by breakout groups and general conclusion
20:00 Dinner

Friday 2 July
9-11 Overall Workshop Conclusions on the conflict analysis
11-13 Agreeing the Workplan for preparation for Workshop 3, including the socio-economic analysis
13:00 Closing

Regards

Hans Lassen
Head of Advisory Programme

Participants to the First Fimpas Workshop on data gathering; Scheveningen (Neth.) 22-24 Febr. 2010

Klaverbank