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Deep-water fisheries pose particular difficulties for monitoring and management. Target species, such as the lantern fish, are difficult to assess, vulnerable to overfishing and sustainable levels of exploitation are low. Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) such as corals and sponges are also damaged by the actual fishing. The European Union (EU)-funded Deepfishman project aims to find sustainable management options to improve conditions at these deep-water fisheries in the North East Atlantic.

The Deepfishman project started in April 2009 and ran for a period of three years. With nearly €3 million in funding under the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7), the project addressed all aspects of deep-water fisheries. These included finding appropriate assessment methods, establishing harvest control rules and undertaking biodiversity and socio-economic studies. The bioeconomic impacts of newly introduced management strategy options were also examined for selected fisheries.

Coordinated by the Institut Français de Recherche pour L'exploitation de la Mer (Ifremer) in France, Deepfishman comprised a consortium of 13 partners from 9 countries, namely France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Namibia, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.

For over 40 years, deep-water fisheries developed sporadically with no real management structures in place. Pascal Lorance, project coordinator of Deepfishman, wanted to improve conditions and pushed for change to protect not only the ecosystem but those working in the industry too. "The ultimate purpose of managing fish stocks and preserving marine ecosystems is to protect those who derive their livelihoods directly from fisheries," he says.

To drive such change, nine 'case studies' were selected that reflected the different types of deep-water fishery found in the North East Atlantic. For each case study, current problems with assessment or management were identified and new methods developed and tested. Recommendations for future methods and bioeconomic approaches were then made.

Deepfishman also integrated data and knowledge from stakeholders to both improve the understanding of stocks and ecosystems and fill the gap between science, policy and stakeholders. Meanwhile, the involvement of stakeholders was and continues to be crucial and has been encouraged by the organisation of various conferences and workshops across Europe.

Methodologies developed in Deepfishman are made available to agencies in charge of fisheries resources and ecosystem assessment and management. For example, some methodological developments have already been integrated into routine stock assessments carried out by the International Council for the Exploitation of the Sea (ICES).

In addition, assessments methodologies and harvest control rules, economic performance of deep-water fisheries, analysis of stakeholder knowledge and data are being published by the consortium in the scientific literature and popular media.

Further communication with stakeholders was established through the distribution of questionnaires at case study level where meetings and other forms of communication were established. Deepfishman may have just ended but work on this important project still carries on with a conference due to be held in Galway, Ireland at the end of summer 2012.

Project details

Participants: France (Coordinator), United Kingdom, Spain, Iceland, Namibia, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Ireland

FP7 Proj. N° 227390

Total costs: € 3 765 139

EU contribution: € 2 924 156

Duration: April 2009 - September 2012