An independent review by an international panel of experts recently assessed the performance of Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO).
Their findings and recommendations were presented at the NAFO Annual Meeting in Halifax last week.
NAFO has been commended for its performance, particularly in recent years with the introduction of the Precautionary Approach, Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs).
The Panel's recommendation for further improvements to the effectiveness of NAFO as a Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) will be addressed in a working group which will formulate Plans of Action for the short-, medium- and long-term.
At the meeting last week, a range of conservation and fisheries management measures were adopted for 20 commercial fish stocks managed by NAFO in international waters and straddling national fishing limits based on the precautionary approach. Moratoria were continued for eight stocks and TACS established for all others. TACs have been reduced for five NAFO stocks.
To ensure the implementation of effective measures to prevent significant adverse impacts of bottom trawl activities on vulnerable marine ecosystems in the NAFO Regulatory Area based on the best available scientific information, closures of 18 areas to bottom fishing including seamounts and coral and sponge protected areas and review dates have been extended to 2014. The NAFO Scientific Council continues its work to improve knowledge on marine ecosystem in the Northwest Atlantic.
NAFO has refined Conservation Plans and Stock Rebuilding Strategies (CPRS) for protected and recovering fish stocks, Cod Div. 3NO and American plaice Div. 3LNO, based on collaborative work between fishery managers and scientists. Witch flounder in Div. 3NO will be reviewed with a potential to develop a rebuilding plan in the coming year. Under CPRS bycatch issues, which take into consideration interactions between species, will be addressed.
NAFO has implemented an agreed management strategy for fishing on Greenland halibut stocks. This strategy is based on abundance trends in surveys carried out by several Contracting Parties and aims to promote the sustainable exploitation of the resource while removing the year-to-year uncertainty from the fishery.
NAFO continues the implementation of modernising its information and data sharing platform by developing a new secure Inspector’s website and digitising all NAFO archives and documents.
A NAFO Internship program has been established to give an opportunity for early-career individuals or students from NAFO members countries to gain experience with an international organisation.
This year an election of Chairs took place. General Council will be Chaired by Veronika Veits (EU), Fisheries Commission by Sylvie Lapointe (Canada) and Scientific Council by Carsten Hvingel (Norway).
