55. The Chairperson of the Sub-Commission, Mr I.G. Cowx (United Kingdom), informed the Commission of the progress achieved during the inter-sessional period. The report was available to the Session as document EIFAC/XXIII/2004/8 and EIFAC/XXIII/2004/Inf.7.
56. The Terms of Reference for this Working Party were refocused during an Ad Hoc Working Party meeting to formulate a Code of Practice for Recreational Fisheries, an exercise that will be run in collaboration with the European Anglers Alliance (EAA).
57. The following steps were proposed:
A list of experts at national level will be prepared on the basis of information requested during the Twenty-third Session.
A questionnaire relating to the general principles for a Code will be circulated in September 2004.
The information from the questionnaire will be consolidated by early 2005 and discussed at the General Assembly of the EAA in March 2005.
A meeting of the WP will be run back-to-back with the EAA General Assembly, with potential collaboration from IUCN, to finalize the Code. The final documentation will be made available to the Twenty-fourth Session.
Mr B. Breton will coordinate these activities.
58. The Chairperson of the Sub-Commission IV chaired the session on Recreational Fisheries and Conservation at the Fourth World Fisheries Congress, in Vancouver, Canada, in May 2004. The session attempted to reconcile the position of recreational fisheries in terms of ecosystem management and show the way forward to resolving conflicts between fisheries and conservation.
59. The Convener of the WP, Mr M. Sipponen informed the Session of progress. He outlined the results from a questionnaire circulated to national experts and EIFAC correspondents. The questions included: definition of recreational fishers; numbers of inland recreational fishers; on-going research; and an assessment of the economic value of inland recreational fisheries. The study showed the high economic and social value of recreational fisheries, although limitations of the methodology were identified. A copy of the report will be posted on the EIFAC website. The inter-sessional period will be used to improve the methodology and finalize the outputs. Efforts will also be made to address the socio-economic importance of the commercial fisheries sector. The final report will be presented at the Twenty-fourth Session.
60. The review of the economic value of recreational fisheries in Nordic countries carried out in 1999 and 2000 was published as Toivonen et al. (2004), The economic value of recreational fisheries in Nordic countries, Fisheries Management and Ecology 11, 1-14. The paper represents an important contribution to the way forward for economic assessment of recreational fisheries, and could be considered as a framework for similar studies in Europe and elsewhere.
61. The Chairperson of Sub-Commission IV attended a workshop organized by the World Fish Centre in Malaysia in January 2004 on the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management to present a keynote lecture on the issues relating to inland fisheries. This highlighted many of the limitations of this approach when applied to inland fisheries, but also indicated that inland fisheries are already catered for under the catchment management approaches developed in the 1990s. Because of the multifaceted problems facing inland fisheries, it was recommended that a watching brief was set up to inform EIFAC on developments and decide on options for full integration into EIFAC activities at the Twenty-four Session. Mr I. Cowx will coordinate these activities.
62. It has been recognized since the establishment of Sub-Commission IV in 1996 that too few socio-economists are involved in EIFAC. Mechanisms to encourage participation were discussed and the forging of stronger links with the European Association of Fisheries Economists (EAFE) and research institutions and producer associations was recommended. This should be linked to raising awareness of the economic importance of inland fisheries with economists who traditionally work in the marine fisheries sector. This process will be followed up by officers of the Sub-Commission.
63. The following were elected: Mr I.G. Cowx (UK), Chairperson; Mr M. Sipponen (Finland), Vice-Chairperson; Mr R. Arlinghaus (Germany), Rapporteur.
