The past, present and future of technical measures in the Common Fisheries Policy1

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.

Technical conservation measures such as closed area and mesh regulations form a major part of EU fisheries legislation. Their importance as management measures is likely to increase with greater stakeholder involvement in fisheries management. As background to the reform of the CFP we review the technical measures currently in place in EU legislation and discuss their effectiveness in achieving policy objectives. We also compare the implementation of technical measures in EU waters with implementations in other areas. We then draw on the findings from these reviews to identify a set of features that would contribute to an effective implementation of technical measures in EU waters. The implementation of such a system would also have implications for the role of scientists, particularly in relation to the evaluation of the effectiveness of technical measures, and these implications are also discussed.