A conference on “Bioeconomic modelling of Mediterranean fisheries” took place in Barcelona from 18th to 22nd October. It was organised to disseminate the results of the BEMMFISH (Bio-Economic Modelling of Mediterranean FISHeries) project, of which it represented the final meeting. BEMMFISH project was financed by EU in V Framework Programme. The main objective of this project was to develop a computable bio-economic model to simulate the management of Mediterranean fleets and fisheries. The model is projected to be a useful tool to evaluate the effects of the management measures adopted within the Common Fishery Policy.
The conference saw the participation of the institutes involved in the project and external representatives of academic society, national and supranational administrations, fishermen associations. The aim of the conference was to present the model and its theoretical features, and to expose the results of some specific applications. It was discussed the coherence of the model and its applicability from a management point of view. Finally, the potentiality of the model and its possible improvements were highlighted.
The project was co-ordinated by ICM-CSIC (Institut de Ciències del Mar – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Spain), with the contribution of IREPA and the following institutes: GEM-UB (Gabinete de Economia del Mar – Universitat de Barcelona, Spain), IFREMER (Institut Francais de Recherche pour l’Expolitation de la Mer, France), UPC (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain), IoES-UI (Institute of Economic Studies – University of Iceland, Iceland), INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique, France).
More information on: www.bemmfish.net.

IREPA organise for Saturday 6 of November, a conference on “Fishery in Calabria – state and trend of fishery and relater activities”, as last meeting provided for SIPAC CALABRIA project.
During the workshop, will be presented the book “Economic Observatory on fishery and related activities in Calabria”, that contains economic data on fishery, commerce and industry in Calabria.
Click here to see the bill.

A new meeting of the AdriaMed project took place last week in Zagabria. The aim of the meeting is to finish the identification and description of Operational Units (OU) in the Adriatic Sea. The concept of Operational Units (OUs) is developed in the framework of the GCFM-SAC of which AdriaMed and IREPA take parts. Among others, the most important themes handled by the working group, concern the possibility of implementing pilot studies and preparing the relative work plan. IREPA contributes with the presentation of its general methodology for identifying Operational Units (OUs). Click here for more information http://www.faoadriamed.org/

Last week in Nantes, took place the V coordination meeting of PECHDEV project (Development and application of a computable model of general equilibrium to analyse the contribution of halieutic activities to regional development), financed by EU in V Framework Programme.
Final aim of the project is to develop and apply a CGEM (Computable General Equilibrium Model) for fishery.
Irepa’s partners in the project are: CEMARE (Centre for the Economics & Management of Aquatic Resources, Portsmouth, UK), UCL (University College London, London, UK), ENSAR (Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Rennes, Rennes, FR), LEN-CORRAIL (Université de Nantes, Nantes, FR), IEP (Institute of Publics Economics, University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, ES) and IME-SDU (University of Southern Denmark, Department of Environmental and Business Economics IME, Esbjerg, DK).
More information on:
http://web.port.ac.uk/departments/economics/.....

Until the 3rd of September is possible to apply at the Course for Captain for coastal Fishery, Seamen and Expert for safety on board. At the end of the courses, the fisherman attending should take the exam for the titles at Harbour Office . The courses are organised inside the activities of the EQUAL FARO project.

The Annual Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and trades (IIFET) took place in Tokio from 21 to 30 of July. Massimo Spagnolo, Irepa’s Director together with researchers Monica Gambino e Gianluigi Coppola have participated with the following papers: “Alternative approaches to evaluating multispecies fishery efficiency” and “Efficiency in Multilevel in Decision Making Systems: a comparative Analysis of Buy Back Programs ”. For more information click the link http://www.iifet2004.org/

Last Thursday in Cetara, took place a workshop on board a fishing boat of Tuna fleet, organised inside “A tutto tonno”, the annual fair dedicated to the Tuna fish. The discussion was oriented on fishing problematic in Mediterranean sea, especially concerning anchovies and Tuna. A special attention was dedicated to typical products of cannery industries. Indeed, Cetara is famous for his salted anchovies and for the Colatura di alici.

At the address http://faro.irepa.org in possible to find the web site dedicate to fishery tourism in Egadi Islands. On the site there are many information about fishery tourism and Egadi Marine Protected Area. Moreover there is the list of professional fishermen that gives the opportunity of taking tourists aboard their fishing boats on daily excursions. The web site is one of the results of FARO project (www.efeso.it/faro) and should be updated ad upgraded by local operators with news and information.

The term for delivery application form for Course for Captain for coastal Fishery, has been extended until the 30 of July. At the end of the course, the fishermen attending should take the exam for the title Capobarca per la pesca locale. The course is organised inside the activities of the EQUAL FARO project.

A meeting of the Concerted Action on Economic Assessment of European Fisheries took place last week in the Faeroe Island. The aim of the meeting was to define and analyse the economic parameters for next edition of the Annual Economic Report. The working team was composed by economists of 20 European Countries involved in fishing activities, including the Baltic Republic (new EU members) and the following non EU countries: Norway, Island and Faeroe Island.
The previous meeting of the Concerted Action was hosted by Irepa in Salerno in October 2004 to produce the Annual Economic Report 2003.

During the last EAFE Conference, Evelina Sabatella has been appointed as vice president of the Association, which have more then 150 members from all over Europe.
The day-to-day running of EAFE is undertaken by a Bureau which includes:- President (Philip Rodgers, CFER, United Kingdom), Vice-President Evelina Sabatella, IREPA, Italy), Secretary (Luc Van Hoof, LEI-DLO, The Netherlands), Treasurer (Hans Frost, FOI, Denmark).
The Objectives of EAFE include: promoting cooperation in research in fisheries and aquaculture, assisting the dissemination of information about fisheries economics among members, fostering understanding of the economics of fisheries and aquaculture
Web site: http://www.eafe-fish.org

The XVIth Annual Conference of the European Association of Fisheries Economists (EAFE) has took place at the FAO headquarters in Rome from Monday 5 to Wednesday 7 April. The XVIth Annual EAFE Conference aims to contribute to the EAFE objectives, which are: to promote co-operation in research in fisheries and aquaculture; to assist in the dissemination of information about fisheries economics among members; and to further understanding of the economics of fisheries and aquaculture. IREPA is member founder of EAFE during 1988 and Corporate Member to date. IREPA has been present at the Conference with a consistent group of its researchers and has participated with five different presentations: “Towards a Mediterranean Free Trade Area. Fish Trade Relations within the Mediterranean Basin”, “A Comparative Analysis of Italian Buy Back Programs”, “A New Formulation of the Schaefer Model”, “An Econometric Approach to compare the Effects of Variations of Fishing Capacity and Activity”, and “A Social Accounting Matrix for Local Fishery Assessment”. For more information click the link http://www.eafe-fish.org

Under the support of UNESCO (SCOR/IOC Working Group 199), an International Symposium “Quantitative Ecosystem Indicators for Fisheries Management” will be held in Paris, 31 March – 3 April 2004. The SCOR/IOC Symposium is planned to support scientific aspects of using indicators for an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF), and aims to review existing indicators as well as to develop new indicators reflecting the exploitation and state of marine ecosystems. IREPA, conjointly with CEMARE (UK), contributes with a paper titled “The use of indicators to measure the performance of the marine protected areas: Relevance and limits for fishery management”. Programme and abstracts at http://www.ecosystemindicators.org

AdriaMed is organising an ad hoc working group on “Operational Units (OU) in the Adriatic Sea”. The meeting will be held on the 1st and 2nd of April in Albania and will be hosted by the Fisheries Research Institute in Durres. The concept of Operational Units (Ous) is developed in the framework of the GCFM-SAC of which AdriaMed and IREPA take parts. Among others, the aims of the working group are to update the participants on the state of knowledge concerning OUs and discuss the possibility of implementing pilot studies and preparing the relative work plan. IREPA contributes with the presentation of its general methodology for identifying Operational Units (OUs). Click here for more information http://www.faoadriamed.org/

IREPA organise for Saturday 3 of April, a conference on “Local development initiatives and innovative measures for fisheries”. The conference is the first of a series of activities organised by IREPA in Calabria. The main objective is to interface political administrators with stakeholders.
Click here to see the bill. (ZIP) Right click"save as"

During March 22-24, the University of California (La Jolla, San Diego) has promoted the “International Workshop on Fishing Vessel and License Buy-Back Programs” with the purpose to develop a set of Guidelines through a series of case studies of vessel and license buyback programs employed around the world. IREPA contributes with three different case studies: “The Impact of the EU Buy Back Scheme on the Italian Fleet: The Northern and Central Adriatic Sea Bottom Trawlers Case”, “The Decommissioning Scheme for the Italian Clam Fishery: A Case of Success”, and “Drifnets Buy Back Program: A case of Institutional Failure”. In the next future, the final document of the workshop will be placed at the Irepa web site.

In the section Pubblications an advance-copy of "Manual of Fisheries Sampling Surveys: Methdologies for estimations of Socio-Economic Indicators in the Mediterranean Sea". This manual on sampling methodologies ofr the development of socio-economic indicators was initiated by the Sub-Committee on Economic and Social Sciences (SCESS) of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean Scientific Advisory Committee. It was prepared jointly by IREPA and the Gabinete de Economia del Mar (GEM) within the framework of the ad hoc Working Group on Scocio-Economic Indicators of SCESS. The manual is aimed at all decision-makers who may need to collect dato to buil socio-economic indicators. A advance-copy of the manual will be distribuited during the next meeting of the ad hoc Working-Group of SCESS that will be held in Barcelona during the 15-17 March 2004. For more information check the link http://www.fao.org/fi/body/rfb/GFCM/gfcm_home.htm

From 16th to 19th of February took place the IV co-ordination meeting in Bilbao, of EU project PECHDEV (Development and application of a computable model of general equilibrium to analyse the contribution of halieutic activities to regional development). The working team is composed by economist, biologist and ecologist, members of important research institute on fishery, like IREPA, UCL (University College London), ENSAR (Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Rennes), LEN-CORRAIL (Université de Nantes),IEP (Institute of Publics Economics, University of the Basque Country) and IME-SDU (University of Southern Denmark). The main purpose of the project is the development of a CGEM (Computable General Equilibrium Model) applied on fishing sector.

The Annual Report 2003 on “Economic performance of selected Europea fishing fleets” has been issued. Is possible to down load it in Pubblications section. ......