1. Protecting the international Dogger Bank habitat
By mr. John Clorley (DEFRA, UK) also on behalf of Germany and the Netherlands

2. Outline of the presentation
I General setting: legal and policy context
II Problem analysis
III The fisheries measures from the draft Joint Recommendation
IV Procedure: next steps
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Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat

3. I General setting: legal and policy context

4. Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat
Geographical context
All N2000 sites are on the list of Sites of Community Importance
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5. Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat
Legal context 1
Habitats Directive
Member States shall take appropriate steps to avoid, in the special areas of conservation, the deterioration of natural habitats and the habitats of species (art. 6.2)
Dogger Bank under the scope of Ann. I: Sandbanks which are slightly covered by sea water all the time (type 1110)
Fisheries: Basic Regulation EC 1380/2013
CFP - management of fisheries outside territorial waters – EU Regulation
Procedure for establishment conservation measures Art. 11 and 18
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6. Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat
Legal context 2
Article 11 provides a process through which Member States can propose fisheries management measures for sites designated under the Nature Directives and other sites identified as requirement to deliver the MPA aspects of the MSFD
All measures passed under Article 11 need to be sufficiently robust as to meet EU environmental law obligations and the objectives of the CFP.
These measures should include:
The precautionary principle
Avoiding the deterioration of natural habitats and the habitats of species as well as the disturbance of the species for which they have been designated
Establishing “necessary conservation measures” that will meet the ecological requirements of the protected habitats or species in a SAC
Establishing “spatial protection measures” that will contribute to a “coherent and representative network of MPAs
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7. Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat
Legal Context 3
The initiating Member State and other Member States with a direct management interest may submit a joint recommendation as referred to in Article 18(1) within 6 months from the provision of sufficient information.
Under Article 18(2) Member States are obliged to consult Advisory Councils as part of this process
If all Member States succeed in reaching an agreement on the measures, these are submitted to the Commission, who shall adopt the measures, within 3 months
Various COM guidelines: Marine Guidelines (2007), Guidelines CFP measures (2008)
Good to know that the n2k group has produced an overview of the potential interactions and impacts of commercial fishing methods on marine habitats and species protected under the EU Habitat directive (MEG)
And a Common methodology for assessing the impact of fisheries on marine Natura 2000
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Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat

8. Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat
Process
2006 German EMPAS Project
2009 Dutch FIMPAS Project
2011 Establishment of International Dogger Bank Steering Group with:
4 MS
Fishing Industry
NGOs
EC (MARE and ENVI)
ICES
Chair of the NSAC Spatial Planning Working Group
2012 ICES Advice
2013 Agreement on the measures and background information
This is a very brief overview of the process as you know it, this slide can be skipped if necessary
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9. Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat
Principles
Sound scientific basis
Stakeholder involvement
Multilateral coordination
Transparency
Proportionality
Non discrimination
Keep in mind - Commission guidance on the management of fisheries that “the proposed measures should be consistent with the conservation objectives for the sites concerned” and “the absence of adequate scientific information should not be used as a reason for postponing or failing to take management measures”
See p 19 of the Background Document for a further explanation of these principles
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10. II Problem analysis

11. Target: Protection of bottom habitat
indicates the benthic communities on Dogger Bank based on the map of the endobenthic communities from WIEKING AND KRÖNCKE, 2003, as depicted by van Moorsel (2011).
Refer to the BGD at p. 22
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12. Common Conservation Objectives 1
Approach:
Current conservation status: unfavourable due to
Significant habitat disturbance
Distortion of species composition
We Aim to
Decrease human pressures
provide a contribution to moving the site towards its conservation objectives.
See BGD p. 25; A
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13. Analysis of the fisheries on the DB
Main target species: plaice, sole, sand eel
DK, GER, NL, UK:
accountable for >90% plaice (esp. UK
95% sand eel (DK mainly)
Backgrounddocument contains detailed statistics on landing values
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14. Fisheries effort, landings, gross value
Figure 8.1. Fisheries effort, total landings and gross value of landings by gear group in the total SCI. The two ‘beam trawl’ entries are directed for flatfish and nephrops respectively. The three ‘Bottom trawl’ entries are all three Bottom otter board trawls and from left to right (1) directed for demersal fish, (2) directed for nephrops and (3) directed for shrimp. Herring, sand eel and sprat mean Bottom otter board trawls used in fisheries directed for herring, sand eel and sprat respectively. The catches of demersal fish are on the Dogger Bank dominated by flatfish (plaice and sole).
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15. Landings from DB in % of landings Div. |IVB, Plaice and sand eel
Landings (weight) reported from the Dogger Bank SCI in % of the landings reported from the Central North Sea (Division IVb) by year
Plaice
14.1%
15.5%
18.9%
16.2%
Sand eel
3.7%
4.2%
29.2%
12.4%
Landings (weight) reported from the Dogger Bank SCI in % of the landings reported from the Central North Sea (Division IVb) by year
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16. Fleets: 4 major gear groups
Beam trawl
Bottom Otter Board Trawl
Sand eel trawl
Seines (incl. Flyshoot)
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17. Maximum potential loss (tables 8d and 8e)
‘Maximum Potential loss’ is the sum of landing values in the closed zone
Maximum potential loss is not the same as “income loss”,
TAC’s are not affected, i.e. it may be possible to catch the lost amount of fish elsewhere and
in close proximity to the closed areas leaving costs largely unaffected.
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18. Seasonal Distribution of fisheries in the years 2007-2009
Main conclusions : (see maps p. 42 and on)
all fisheries have marked seasonality with second and third quarters as the period when the fisheries are most active.
The seasonality is particular marked for the sand eel fishery.
The same fisheries occur also elsewhere in Division IVb in all seasons
See next slide for example
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19. Seasonal distribution: beam trawl
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20. Seasonal distribution: beam trawl
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21. Seasonal distribution: beam trawl
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22. Seasonal distribution: beam trawl
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23. Seasonal distribution: beam trawl
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24. Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat
Displacement
ICES advice: displacement of (otter board, beam) trawl fisheries will be limited
Some displacement is likely to occur to areas within the SCI that are not closed
1st and 2nd trawl pass are the most damaging
Potential further deterioration is extremely difficult to assess
. It is unlikely that, under the current proposal, displacement will be a significant problem but there may be increased fishing efforts along the open/closed boundaries.
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25. III The fisheries measures from the draft Joint Recommendation

26. Preliminary Considerations 1
Measures are designed to make a key contribution
Introduction of a zoning concept
Surface of management zones sufficiently large,
Management zones include all benthic communities
Holistic perspective of the entire Dbank
Specific considerations for individual MS (p. 29 BGD)
Specific considerations Germany: that a 50% closure of the German SCI has been proposed by German scientific institutions (BfN/TI) to achieve a favourable conservation status of the habitat type 1110;
UK : that adequate coverage of the shallowest part of the Dogger Bank was to be achieved, in light of the EC Guidelines and interpretation manual which puts a special focus for habitat type 1110 on sandbanks up to 20 m depth;
Netherlands: that areas with localized habitat features, as contained in the Van Moorsel report (2011) , are to be included in the management zones. This pertains especially to areas of known higher densities of long-lived benthic species, such as quahogs (Witbaard and Bergman 2003), since they would be especially important in light of the conservation objectives.
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27. Preliminary Considerations 2
Stakeholder driven input for the measures
Built on existing data
Economic and socio economic considerations taken into account
Mindful of windpark developments
Adaptive approach
SEINING: Achieving favourable conservation status of Habitat 1110 is regarded as uncertain with ongoing demersal seines fisheries. Data is lacking to conclusively make such an assessment. In order to acquire this data the German management zone will be closed to demersal seines to allow analysis of the impact of such fishing gear as part of a specific monitoring programme and by a targeted experiment;
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28. Proposed fisheries management measures 1
Establishment of a zoning system
Dividing the area in 6 zones corresponding to the benthic communities
Each management zone has an alert zone
All management zones will be closed to the following mobile bottom contacting gear types
Beam Trawl.
Bottom Trawl/Otter trawl.
Dredges.
Semi-pelagic trawls
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29. Proposed fisheries management measures 2
remaining area is open to all not otherwise prohibited fishing gears
New and/or modified gears: should be able to obtain a derogation where the use of such gears in the management zones will not jeopardize the delivery of conservation objectives
procedure, scientific doc., via MS to EC
Evaluation after 6 years
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30. Control and Enforcement (Reg. 1224/2009)
MS’s FMC’s are responsible
VMS compulsory if prohibited gear on board, traveling < 6 kn in management zone or alert zone
Transit through alert zone and management zone permitted: gear should be stowed and lashed; minimum speed of >6 kn.
Exception force majeure
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31. IV Procedure: next steps

32. Agreement in the region
We should reach agreement within the Scheveningen Group about these proposals
If possible formal meeting of an AD HOC group
If not: a 2nd informal consultative meeting
After agreement in the Scheveningen Group:
Forward the proposals to the European Commission
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33. Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat
NSAC Advice
NSAC has received the relevant documentation
Case will be presented in meeting of the Spatial Planning Working Group of July 4th (the Hague)
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34. Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat
Conclusion
|The aim of the meeting is to assess whether we have sufficient information
IF the information provided to the MS constitutes sufficient information as mentioned in art. 18 Reg.
The initiating MS intend to move to the formal procedure
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Protecting the interntional Dogger Bank habitat