The 21st Fisheries Data Collection Liaison Meeting between the Chairs of the Regional Coordination Groups (RCGs), key end users (ICES, STECF, RFMOs), European Commission DG Mare and JRC took place on September 24 & 25, 2024 on a hybrid meeting. The meeting was chaired by Marie Storr-Paulsen (Denmark).
European Commission highlighted the importance of the Liaison Meeting, an event with a wide scope, which forms the core of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The feedback of end users is important, in terms of data needs and data issues, both of which should be addressed by data collectors, but also any new, arising issues and developments. Together with the work of RCG chairs coordinating the intersessional work of the different RCGs and the instrumental support of the RCG Secretariat.
During the meeting two areas of work were highlighted: (1) regional work plans for new period 2025-2027 and (2) data management, in the form of developments in Regional Database Estimation System (RDBES) for the North and RDBFIS in the South and the IT platform for submission of Member States (MS) reports. Regional databases were acknowledged as the backbone for storing and dissemination of Data Collection Framework (DCF) data.
There were further discussions on how to ensure the alignment on the FDI data call with the Annual Economic Report (AER) on capacity, effort and landings, as the data is transmitted repeatedly which leads to duplication of work and an increased number of inconsistencies. Regarding social data, STECF is in the process of developing and operationalising a framework for the analysis of the social dimension of the CFP. Data access and data confidentiality were also discussed and the need for better alignment between MS.
The chair of the meeting stressed the importance of strengthening the link between data collectors and end users. In particular, with an increasing demand for new data collection such as genetics, stomach content analysis and, camera images; she urged to strengthen the dialogue between data collectors and end users in order to prioritize the new data collection needs.
Once more the Liaison Meeting proved to be an excellent forum to improve the interaction between data collectors and end users in order to better align needs and options to collect data.
For a detailed description of the discussions and the strategic recommendations emerging from the 21st Liaison Meeting, access the full report here.