engleski

Vukovar Declaration on sustainable fishery

Vukovar Declaration on Sustainable Fisheries Vukovar, Croatia, April, 16 and 17, 2009. Osijek, Croatia, September 14 to 20, 2009. Quebec City, Canada, October 6 to 9, 2009. Having met at Vukovar, Osijek and Quebec City and based on the Rio Declaration, Rio De Janeiro, 1992 which states: Principle 4: In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it. Principle 27: States and people shall cooperate in good faith and in a spirit of partnership in the fulfilment of the principles embodied in this Declaration and in the further development of international law in the field of sustainable development. while being concerned about: COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on Implementing sustainability in EU fisheries through maximum sustainable yield COM(2006), 360 Brussels, 2006. which states: …There has simply been too much fishing in relation to the productive potential of the stocks. The Commission considers that implementing fish stocks management systems based on the Maximum Sustainable Yield will contribute to reverse this situation. In addition to ensuring that stocks would not collapse, it would allow the development of larger fish stocks, leading to more fishing possibilities at lower cost and with a higher unit value, providing a greater guarantee of wealth. Larger fish stocks will also provide a buffer against changes in the number of young fish that join the stock each year that occur due to environmental factors. we declare: 1. Implemention of the maximum sustainable yield is contrary to, and actually works against protection of fish species in an ecosystem. This is based on scientific evidence that we have seen and understood during this meeting. The unequivocal proof states: The application of maximum sustainable yield to ecosystems with multiple trophic levels will cause extinction of species of fish in the greathest number of fisheries. Among many species extinctions there will be the highest predators and some of the targeted species. 2. Instead of the maximum sustainable yield, adaptive management should be implemented as follows: The optimum yield must be computed based on preservation of populations of fish and prior to giving comercial fisherman rights to fish. The optimum yield is based upon local conditions and species present in the ecosystem under consideration. These computations can be done based on the present scientific evidence while appropriate monitoring must be implemented so that adaptive management is enabled and sustainability of fisheries is achieved. Given evidence to the above, we request from all legislators to urgently retract recommendations for implementation of fisheries based upon the maximum sustainable yield and instead formulate a useful recommendation for implementation of adaptive management under the conditions of sustainability of fisheries and preservation of fish species in ecosystems. Drafted by: Prof. dr. sc. Tarzan Legović, Secretary General, International Society for Ecological Modelling Institute R. Bošković, Zagreb, Croatia. E-mail: legovic@irb.hr -Adopted by the general assembly of the 3rd International Consultation on Freshwater Fishery, Vukovar, Croatia, April, 17. 2009 and signed by 59 participants. -Adopted by the 10 Congress of the Croatian Biological Society, Osijek and signed by 98 participants. -Adopted by the 2009 meeting of the International Society for Ecological Modelling, Quebec City, and signed by 128 participants. Supporting material: 1. Legović T., Klanjšček J., Geček S., The maximum sustainable yield and extinction of fish populations, 3rd International Consultation on Freshwater Fishery, Vukovar, Croatia, April, 17. 2009. 8 pp. 2. Legović T. Klanjšček J. Geček S., The maximum sustainable yield leads to extinction of species in most single and multispecies fisheries, Nature proceedings, March 1, 2009. http://precedings.nature.com/documents/2910/version/1

Maximum sustainable yield; fisheries

On May 27, 2009 Vukovar Declaration was sent to: 1) José Manuel Barroso, President, European Commission, Brussels ; 2) Joe Borg, Commissioner, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Brusseles ; 3) Fokion Fotiadis, Director General, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Brusseles.