CONFERENCE
More big fish in the sea!
Questioning the MSY paradigm
for a sustainable long-term marine fisheries
management
Co-chaired by MEP Caroline Roose and MEP
Isabel Carvalhais
On 25 April 2023, the Forum on Recreational
Fisheries and Aquatic Environment organised an event on the Maximum Sustainable
Yield (MSY) instrument in regard of a sustainable fish stock structure
management. The conference was chaired by MEP Caroline Roose and MEP Isabel
Carvalhais and took place in the European Parliament, Room Spinelli 5E1. The event was live-streamed and a link was provided before the day of the event.
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This conference helped driving the debate on the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) as the sole
target considered for the sustainability of fisheries management in the EU. It was co-chaired by MEP Caroline Roose and MEP Isabel Carvalhais and
took place in the European Parliament, Room 5E1 (Altiero Spinelli
building). The event was video broadcasted.
Commercial fisheries management based on MSY
has led to a progressive reduction in fish size. Indeed, this instrument
is solely based on tonnage targets and does not consider the preservation of
fish stocks’ structures, posing a problem for the fish species’ ability to
cope with the growing risks of climate change, eutrophication of waters and
for the maintenance of marine ecosystems. Indeed, the age and size distribution
of individuals in the populations of commercially-exploited species is
indicative of a healthy population according to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).
The recreational fisheries sector wishes to
raise awareness of this problem, which endangers the long-term
sustainability of commercial and recreational fisheries.
This “RecFishing Forum” event aims at launching
a dialogue between the EU decision-makers and scientific experts to consider
the issue of fish populations’ structure (as foreseen by the Marine Strategy
Framework Directive) when taking decisions for more a sustainable management of
commercial fisheries.
The presentations are accessible here: