Evaluation of the governance structures of the cases

This report contains an evaluation of the governance structures of the EU long-distance fishing fleet in the six case studies of the FarFish project. These case studies include two high seas fisheries and four fisheries that are based on Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs) between the EU and coastal states. All of these fisheries are important for the fishing fleets of multiple EU countries or respond to the priorities of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The report focuses on different aspects of both the structural and actor conditions, in particular focusing on monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) of the EU external fishing fleet. For each of the four SFPAs, we present the requirements set within the SFPAs, the legal framework and systems for MCS in the coastal state and their capacity. For the high seas cases, we present the governing framework of the area where such is in place and the practice of managing the EU fleet. For all cases, challenges of and measures to mitigate by-catch and discard issues and IUU fishing are presented. Lastly, we summaries the main findings regarding both achievements and identified challenges for the six case studies. This report is based on available data and synthesizes already existing information. It will function as a primer for further studies in the FarFish project of the governance structure of the EU fisheries outside Europe.