First MR invitations submitted to case studies

This document contains the 1st management recommendation (MR) invitations submitted to the case studies in the FarFish project. The purpose of these MR invitations is to offer selected operators (resource users) the opportunity to develop MRs in accordance with the responsive fisheries management system (RFMS) approach; following the “first draft general guidelines for making MRs” presented in FarFish deliverable 3.1. The RFMS is a management approach founded on the principles of results-based management (RBM). According to RFMS, the responsibility for fisheries management is partly transferred to the resource users, provided that they meet with necessary requirements set forth by the competent authorities and provide documentation confirming implementation and achievement of specified management objectives. The advantages of such an approach include facilitation of more bottom-up style of management where the actual resource users and other stakeholders are involved, which is likely to increase the sense of ownership of the resource users in the management. Other advantages are for example increased transparency, as well as reduced costs and increased coverage of monitoring, control and surveillance. The MR invitations presented here are for each of the six FarFish case studies, i.e. the EU fleets operating in SW-Atlantic high-seas mixed demersal fishery, the SE-Atlantic high-seas mixed demersal fishery, Cabo Verde SFPA fishery, Senegalese SFPA fishery, Mauritanian SFPA fishery and the Seychelles SFPA fishery. The MR invitations follow up on a pre-invitation dialogues where the basics of the RFMS approach have been introduced. The MR invitations include a short description of what is to be the main focus of the MRs, identification of the main actors and their roles and responsibilities in the process, details on the current status of the fishery and finally the identification of so-called Outcome Targets (OTs) that are specific and measurable performance goals that the MRs are to meet. It should be taken into consideration that this initial MR invitation is a preliminary version that will be developed further within the FarFish project. The OTs are for example likely to be developed further during the course of the project. It does also have to be considered that the EU fleet is only a subset of the resource users in the case studies, which is likely to have effect on the MRs in respect to impact, coverage and issues concerning “level playing field”.