PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Incidental bycatch has been identified as one of the major threats to marine species worldwide, notably for Endangered, Threatened and Protected (ETP) species. It is the single most important known cause of mortality facing marine ETP species. The number of individuals of ETP species incidentally bycaught annually in European seas is high.
Although this has been recognised for decades, efforts to minimise the bycatch of ETP species of marine mammals, birds, turtles and elasmobranchs have had limited success. One of the main reasons has been the insufficient involvement and buy-in from the fishing industry, exacerbated by a lack of clarity about conservation goals, the fact that some key legislation covers only certain fleets, a limited implementation of legislation and weak enforcement. Both monitoring and mitigation measures have been imposed on large groups of end-users, namely fishers, without consultation and the measures often turn out to be unworkable in practice or to have severe adverse socio-economic consequences.
There are essentially two types of barriers to the reduction of mortality due to incidental bycatch, one technical and the other has to do with implementation. The active involvement of fishers, integration of fisher knowledge and the engagement of gear technologists will help CIBBRiNA to solve technical problems. CIBBRiNA aims to overcome the latter barrier through integration of all levels of the fishing industry along with other stakeholders including national authorities into all stages of the project.
In recent years, there have been several developments demonstrating a need from an international perspective for coordinated efforts to tackle this problem. The LIFE CIBBRiNA project sets out to address this issue by establishing a European flagship initiative in which fishers, scientists, environment ministries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from 13 European countries work jointly to minimize incidental bycatch in fisheries which have a high risk of bycatch of priority marine ETP species and to work towards transparent and environmentally and socio-economically sustainable fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic, Baltic and Mediterranean regions.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of LIFE CIBBRiNA is to minimise and, where possible, eliminate bycatch mortality of priority ETP species. This will be achieved through EU cross-border and cross-sectoral cooperation, involving industry, scientists, authorities and other relevant stakeholders, to establish regionally coordinated mitigation, monitoring and assessment programmes.
The specific objectives are:
- To establish regional monitoring programmes to achieve a steep change in the reliability of bycatch estimates;
- To develop methods to assess the conservation implications of incidental bycatch in data-rich and data-poor situations;
- To create a ‘safe environment’ to share information and develop viable solutions for all stakeholders involved;
- To develop, demonstrate, promote and stimulate innovative, effective techniques, methods and approaches to reduce the mortality of marine ETP species, including through bycatch;
- To optimise, develop and evaluate mitigation methods and recommend the most appropriate tools while working to ensure their long-term implementation;
- To support effective mitigation by implementing successful monitoring programmes in cooperation with the Regional Coordination Groups (RCGs);
- To gain support from all stakeholders by assessing and successfully addressing the socio-economic implications of proposed measures;
- To achieve successful cross-border cooperation, for implementation of recommended measures, among governmental organisations, the fisheries sector including RCGs, NGOs and scientists;
- To secure long-term funding for the continuation and long-term sustainability of recommended incidental bycatch mitigation measures.
CIBBRiNA will ensure the long-term sustainability of the recommended procedures by embedding these in policy and best practice going forward.
RESULTS
The expected results of CIBBRiNA are:
- Overall bycatch mortality rate reduction of 50 % due to a better mitigation framework adopted across the EU, through a combination of avoiding bycatch and, for elasmobranchs and turtles, improved survival in the targeted case-study fisheries;
- More than 70 % of the participating stakeholders in 13 EU Member States indicate increased collaboration between fishers, fisher organisations, scientists, NGOs and government organisations has been established on identifying and mitigating bycatch of ETP species;
- Over 120 fishers have participated in CIBBRiNA case studies, conducted in a safe environment;
- Incentivization strategies have been successfully deployed in 75 % of the CIBBRiNA case studies;
- Some 30 % of fishing vessels in the participating fleets have adopted the demonstrated work principles and available mitigation measures;
- At least 40 % of participating fishers or fisheries organizations experience a decrease in barriers for the mitigation of bycatch that have been identified and tackled by the CIBBRiNA project;
- More than 40 % of the fishers indicate they are better able to identify priority ETP species as a result of participating in CIBBRiNA activities;
- Assessment of the conservation implications of incidental bycatch of priority ETP species complete;
- The decision support tool, an innovative toolbox is available and being used;
- The developed monitoring methods are used in more than 80 % of the targeted fisheries and 80 % of participating countries collaborate on the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) article 11 processes regarding fisheries bycatch measures;
- National bycatch plans for recommended mitigation actions in different fishing fleets in a majority of the 13 participating European countries and at the regional level via the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR), the Helsinki Commission or HELCOM, and the appropriate species level treaties e.g. the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS) to be rolled out;
- A long-term stakeholder engagement strategy, including securing funding mechanisms for 60 % or more of the fishers for monitoring and mitigation is in place.
