Studies in the Field of the CFP and Maritime Affairs No. FISH/2006/09. Lot 4: Impact assessment studies related to the CFP. Economic and social impacts of multi-annual management plans for North Sea plaice and Sole
Council Regulation (EC) No 676/2007 established a multi-annual management plan (MAMP) for fisheries targeting North Sea plaice and sole. The MAMP is formed of two stages:
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Recovery plan element: 10 % annual reduction in fishing mortality with a maximum annual TAC variation of 15 % until the North Sea stocks of plaice and sole are within ‘safe biological limits’.
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Management plan element: Exploitation of North Sea plaice and sole stocks to give maximum sustainable yield under appropriate restrictions on catch and effort. The fishing mortality rate on plaice should be equal to, but not below, 0.3 on ages two to six and the fishing mortality rate on sole should be equal to, but not below, 0.2 on ages two to six.
The MAMP requires that at the point of implementation of the second stage the European Commission shall make a proposal to the European Council setting catch and effort restrictions to levels giving a fishing mortality corresponding with maximum sustainable yield. The proposal must be accompanied by both the evaluation, undertaken by the STECF, and an impact assessment as specified in Council Regulation (EC) No 676/2007.
This study provided the impact assessment, specifically examining the economic and social impacts of the implementation of the second element of the MAMP on European fisheries, fishing economies and communities. The main objective of the impact assessment was to assess the economic and social impacts of three MAMP scenarios that were provided by the European Commission.