North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission PECMAS meeting 2019

The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) PECMAS meetings considers scientific issues underlying NEAFC Recommendations. There are standing agenda items on collaboration with OSPAR. Thus, this engagement is a reflection of ‘business as usual’ for OSPAR Secretariat.

Follow up on discussions initiated during the collective arrangement on;

• Update NEAFC on the developments of the OSPAR nomination proforma for the NACES marine protected area (MPA) and invite further information to be included
• Marine litter, in particular the work on design of fishing gear to invite further engagement
• Note proposed ongoing discussion on other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMS) jointly in the sense of MPAs and VME closures
• Underline the importance of completeness of VME information in the database used by ICES in carrying out analyses based on reflections at collective arrangement

Propose topics for continued discussions at the collective arrangement; in particular proposing continued discussions on OECMs