Reports & Documents

Republic of Ireland

• Private Access Rights - International lessons for Ireland
  A recent paper puts forward an approach to the issue of access rights that is suitable to Ireland's crustacean and molluscan fisheries. Proceedings of a recent international conference on the issue of property rights in fisheries are reviewed and the present limited entry initiative regarding crustacean and molluscan fisheries in Ireland outlined.

Scotland

• Code of Conduct to reduce net loss in Scottish bays
  Creel and scallop fishermen operating in Luce and Wigtown Bays have drawn up a Code of Conduct with a view to reducing the loss of static nets to trawling.

• Royal Society of Edinburgh Inquiry Reports
  Scottish Ministers should establish local inshore fisheries management committees that are led by industry. This was one of the recommendations from the recent Royal Society of Edinburgh Inquiry into the Future of the Scottish Fishing Industry in which the need for reform of the inshore management system was clearly highlighted. The report went on to say that these committees should follow an integrated approach to management and play a role in establishing marine protected areas (MPAs). Similarly, RACs should also implement environmental policy and develop MPAs, and the European Commission should consider transferring to RACs further management responsibilities. Rather than simply loading more obligations on industry, the report makes numerous recommendations on cushioning the social and economic impacts of stock decline through use of FIFG funds and retraining. Recommendations are also directed at government, including the point that the Scottish Executive should consider undertaking environmental impact assessments for new fishing ventures.
• Inshore Fisheries Regulation and Management in Scotland: Meeting the challenge of environmental integration. December 2003
  

Wales

• Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) Sea Fisheries Policy. October 2003.
  CCW will be meeting with fishermen's associations and non-governmental organisations in 2004 to discuss its content and how it should be implemented.