Regional Fisheries Management – How to make it work for fisheries and the environment

Committee of the Regions, rue Belliard 101, Brussels

September 29 2009, Brussels 

WWF and OCEAN2012 hosted a high-level conference exploring regionalisation and how it could be applied to the future EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

The main aim of the conference was to initiate substantial discussion about the options for the EU and best practice models of regional governance that ensure environmental objectives are met in order to deliver economic and social sustainability.

Chaired by Dr David Agnew of Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG), UK, the conference addressed the context of the CFP reform process and the EU policy and decision-making environment. 

Organisers brought speakers from around the world to present their experiences in regional fisheries management to inform and prompt discussions. International, U.S. national and EU local level experiences were presented, as were regional perspectives from the Mediterranean, Baltic and North Seas.

The conference was attended by a broad range of participants from international to local regions, from the Commission, to national government officials, to representatives of the fishing industry and fishing communities, environmental and social development NGOs, to social and fisheries scientists, policy makers, and decision-makers.