Stakeholder involvement in the Common Fisheries Policy CFP - ACFA and RACs
Published: 11/08/2008There are two formal ways of which stakeholders can give advice to the policymakers in the EU. The two stakeholder fora are ACFA and RACs.
The implementation of the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy requires that the opinion of the stakeholders is taken into consideration, as well as the encouragement of the formulation of analyses and of joint positions. For that purpose the Commission has established the Advisory Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (ACFA) and (as part of the CFP reform in 2002) the Regional Advisory Councils (RACs). Work in these fora requires consensus to be efficient, which means that advice from ACFA and RACs will preferably have been agreed by both the industry and the other stakeholders.
The stakeholders consulted and engaged in fisheries issues and the marine environment mainly consist of representatives from the fishing industry including the catching sector, processing industry, retailers, aquaculture industry, as well as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) such as environmental, developmental and consumer groups.
Advisory Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (ACFA)
ACFA is an advisory group to the Commission. This Committee, which represents all major groups of stakeholders at European level, was created in 1971.
ACFA is composed of 21 representatives of the following interests: organisations representing the production sector, the processing industry and trade in fishery and aquaculture products, as well as NGOs representing the interests of consumers, the environment and development. This means that three out of 21 representatives are NGOs and 18 are industry representatives.
The Members of ACFA are appointed by the Commission following proposals from the organisations set up at Community level, which are the most representative of the interests concerned. They meet according to an annual work programme adopted in agreement with the Commission.
Decisions in ACFA are taken in the ACFA Plenary and prepared in the Bureau, the steering group of ACFA. All decisions and positions are prepared and discussed in the Working Groups.
There are four Working groups:
Working Group 1: Access to fisheries resources and management of fishing activities
Working Group 2: Aquaculture: fish, shellfish and molluscs
Working Group 3: Markets and Trade Policy
Working Group 4: General questions: economics and sector analysis.
The Fisheries Secretariat participates in the work of ACFA on issues relevant to its work programme and coordinate activities with the other members of the ACFA NGO Contact Group. The group has a coordinator as its official representative – the ACFA-NGO Co-ordinator or CCPA-ONG Coordinateur (ANCOR-COCO). FISH held this position from 2006 to mid-2007. It then passed to Oceana, and is currently held by The Pew Environment Group.
With the RACs now mostly operational, there are ongoing discussions about how to ensure that the work of the two types of stakeholder for a does not overlap too much, and the Commission has carried out an evaluation of ACFA.
RACs
The creation of Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) was one of the pillars of the 2002 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). They came about as a response to calls from stakeholders in the fisheries sector who wanted to be more involved in the way fisheries is managed in the EU.
The RACs prepare recommendations and suggestions on fisheries issues relevant to the area they cover and submit them to the Commission and/or to the relevant national authorities. Submissions may be in response to a request from these bodies or on the RACs’ own initiative. The RACs are made up of representatives of the fisheries sector and other groups affected by the CFP, while scientists are invited to participate in the meetings of the RACs as experts. In each RAC, 2/3 of the members are industry representatives, while 1/3 represents “other interest groups” such as NGOs. The latter group also includes aquaculture producers. The Commission and regional and national representatives of Member States may be present at the meetings as observers.
Seven RACs have been established to cover the following areas or fisheries:
· Baltic Sea BS RAC (operational since March 2006)
· Mediterranean Sea MedRAC (operational since September 2008)
· North Sea NS RAC (operational since November 2004)
· North Western Waters NWW RAC (operational since September 2005)
· South Western Waters SWW RAC (operational since April 2007)
· Pelagic stocks (blue whiting, mackerel, horse mackerel and herring) in all areas, PRAC (operational since August 2005)
· High seas/long distance fleet fishing in all non-EU waters LD RAC (operational since March 2007).
The European Commission meets with the RACs on a regular basis to discuss current policy initiatives and priorities, as well as to ensure coordination on issues that concern all RACs. The RACs have also established an Inter-RAC Committee to deal with issues of common interest, such as budgetary questions and their participation in the Community Fisheries Control Agency.
Working Groups
Often, the RACs have several Working Groups. Each RAC is free to establish the groups it needs to perform its work. For example, the Baltic Sea RAC has three WGs: the Demersal WG, the Pelagic WG and the Salmonid WG. The WGs discuss issues in detail and prepare draft positions for the Executive Committee, which decides on the advice or recommendations sent to different authorities.
The Fisheries Secretariat is a member of the Baltic Sea RAC, and one of eight other interest groups represented in the Executive Committee. The main aim of the BS RAC is to prepare and provide advice to the European Commission and the Member States on matters relating to management of the fisheries in the Baltic Sea. In the BS RAC, the Fisheries Secretariat is also active in the Demersal Working Group. The Fisheries Secretariat coordinates its work in the BS RAC with representatives of environmental, angling and consumer NGOs in the Baltic Sea region.