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SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES

Recreational Fisheries

During the intersession there was little progress with the work programme of the Working Party on Recreational Fisheries. This situation resulted from an unexpected heavy work load imposed upon the convenor by an eighteen-month long review of the salmon and freshwater fisheries legislation for England and Wales.

Resulting from a meeting held during the Twentieth Session of EIFAC, the original Intersession programme for the Working Party included:

• the publication of the Code of Practice for Recreational Fishing;
• a review of the implementation of the recommendations adopted by the Nineteenth Session, and
• promotion and coordination of the proposed Year 2000 Angling Census.

Some slight progress was made on the proposed Code of Practice for Recreational Fishing in that several new source documents were identified. Although many countries have codes of practice already in existence, they are of varying quality and scope according to target audience. Some, however, will serve well as a template for the proposed EIFAC publication. Particularly suitable for the purpose is the relatively recent Australian National Code of Practice for Recreational and Sport Fishing. Using this and similar codes as a guide, it is hoped that a framework for the EIFAC Code can be formulated and agreed at the forthcoming Working Party meeting to be held during the Twenty-first Session of EIFAC.

No progress at all was made on the review of implementation of the Nineteenth Session recommendations. It is proposed that the need for this review be reconsidered by the Working Party and, if appropriate, remove the item from the work programme.

The concept of a Year 2000 Angling Census was supported by many but it became obvious at an early stage that an internationally coordinated approach was unworkable. Different and complex styles of budget and work planning regimes within member countries confounded the initial attempts to initiate the project. It is proposed that a less ambitious approach be taken and that National Correspondents, using a standard and simple set of questions, retrospectively attempt to assess the status of angling at the start of this Millennium. The survey should be designed to collect only the basic key elements so that the task output is achievable. At their meeting to be held during the Twenty-first Session of EIFAC the Working Party should be able to produce a draft set of standard questions for issue and response during the next Intersession such that the year 2000 status can be reported at the Twenty-second Session.

Education in Fisheries Management

The Working Party on Education in Fisheries Management, under new convenership, failed to meet in the intersessional period. The Covenor advised that he was trying to collate the education strategies linked to inland fisheries operated in EIFAC member countries. Unfortunately, he was unable to gain much from this action. It has been recommended that a questionnaire be sent out to the EIFAC reperesentatives to request this information and the working party convenes in the next intersessional period to discuss the output.

Resolution of conflicts in river basiNs

This issue was discussed at length at the HIFI/EIFAC Symposium on River Fisheries in 1998. The issues raised were presented in the summary of the Twentieth EIFAC Session document EIFAC/XX/98/Inf.11, and the full text of the presentations is now available in I.G. Cowx (ed.) Management and Ecology of River Fisheries. Fishing News Books, Blackwell Science, Oxford, 444 pp.

The key points raised with respect to conflict resolution were:

• agreement on the issues relating to the conflict and where arise;
• community-based management of the resources to ensure active participation by all user groups in the decision-making;
• ensure funding for development is focused in the appropriate direction, and
• identify an independent lead organization to coordinate activities.

It is anticipated further discussion will be forthcoming for the EIFAC Symposium on Fisheries and Society.

Socio-economic aspects

The Working Party on Socio-economic Aspects of Inland Fisheries failed to meet in the intersessional period. However, the Symposium conference linked to the Twenty-first Session on Fisheries and Society will be the main forum of discussion for this working party.

In addition, some progress on the value of inland fisheries has been made during the intersessional period as part of the Sub-Commission I Working Party on Stocking and Introductions. In an assessment of the value of stocking and introductions in EIFAC member states estimates of the value of the fisheries was also attempted. Whilst these data are somewhat subjective, they indicate the importance of inland fisheries in economic and social terms. The reader is referred to the report of the Sub-Commission I Working Party on Stocking and Introductions and the report of the conference of the Twenty-first Session of EIFAC.