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More than 20% of the European fishing fleets catches are taken from non-European waters. Access to these waters is often based on agreements with coastal states that allow the EU fleet to fish from surplus stocks in return for financial support. These agreements have been subjected to criticism, as these fisheries are sometimes poorly regulated and management decisions are often based on limited knowledge, compliance, and enforcement capabilities. It is also too often the case that trust between stakeholders is lacking. The aim of the FarFish project is to overcome these hurdles. The FarFish project is designed around six case study areas in which the European fleet is actively engaged in fishing activities, including Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal and Seychelles, as well as the international high-seas areas in the southeast and southwest Atlantic. Among the Research & Innovation outputs of the FarFish project is a development of a management approach where the management authorities and the resource users come to an agreement on some key objectives and how to meet them. This approach is designed to reduce micromanagement by involving stakeholders and increase the degree of co-management by delegating management responsibilities to resource users. The process is broken into a number of steps, which include a) the provision of guidelines on how to develop so called management recommendations (MRs), b) provision of an invitation from the authorities to the resource users to develop MRs, where overall objectives are established, c) development of MRs, d) third party audit of the MR, where the success of the MR is evaluated. Draft guidelines and MR invitations have been published, and this report compiles the first proposals for MRs for each of the FarFish case studies. These will then be audited by an independent auditor and the whole process will then be re-iterated. The aim is that by the end of the project, we will have a tested / validated approach for how to manage fisheries in cocreation between authorities and resource users.

This report contains the 2nd management recommendation (MR) invitations submitted to the case studies in the FarFish project i.e. the high-seas fisheries in SW-Atlantic and SE-Atlantic, and the SFPA fisheries in Cape Verde, Senegal, Mauritania and Seychelles. The purpose of these MR invitations is to offer selected operators (resource users) the opportunity to develop MRs following the “second draft general guidelines for making MRs” presented in FarFish deliverable 3.5. The approach presented in the guidelines are based on principles of results-based management (RBM), where the responsibility for fisheries management is partly transferred to the resource users, provided that they meet with necessary requirements set forth by the authorities and provide documentation confirming implementation and achievement of specified management objectives. The advantages of such an approach include facilitation of more bottom-up style of management where the actual resource users and other stakeholders are involved. This approach is likely to increase the sense of ownership, by the resource users, in the management. Other advantages are for example increased transparency, as well as reduced costs and increased coverage of monitoring, control and surveillance. The MR invitations follow up on a pre-invitation dialogues where the basics of the approach have been introduced. The MR invitations include a short description of what is to be the focus of the MRs, identification of the main actors and their roles and responsibilities in the process, details on the current status of the fishery and finally the identification of so-called Outcome Targets (OTs) that are performance goals that the MRs are to meet.

The H2020 project FarFish aims to provide knowledge, tools and methods to support responsible, sustainable and profitable EU fisheries outside European waters. To achieve this, one of the implementation tools is the Stakeholder Hub, a multi-level and multi-stakeholder network integrated by scientists, policymakers, resource users, NGOs and other stakeholders aimed to improve fisheries management competences throughout their participation. The Stakeholder Hub is a responsive and flexible platform that adopts the form of a regional working group for the six case studies involved into the project, but adopting the form of a high-level European platform, or even an international forum for cross-cutting issues. This Intermediate report provides a summary on the Stakeholder Hub implementation in the first half of the project. It highlights lessons learnt and improvement areas for the second part of the project.

More than 20% of the European fishing fleets catches are taken from non-European waters. Access to these waters is often based on agreements with coastal states that allow the EU fleet to fish from surplus stocks in return for financial support. These agreements have been subjected to criticism, as these fisheries are sometimes poorly regulated and management decisions are often based on limited knowledge, compliance, and enforcement capabilities. It is also too often the case that trust between stakeholders is lacking. The aim of the FarFish project is to overcome these hurdles. The FarFish project is designed around six case study areas in which the European fleet is actively engaged in fishing activities, including Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal and Seychelles, as well as the international high-seas areas in the southeast and southwest Atlantic. Among the Research & Innovation outputs of the FarFish project is a development of a management approach where the management authorities and the resource users come to an agreement on some key objectives and how to meet them. This approach is designed to reduce micromanagement by involving stakeholders and increase the degree of co-management by delegating management responsibilities to resource users. The process is broken into a number of steps, which include a) the provision of guidelines on how to develop so called management recommendations (MRs), b) provision of an invitation from the authorities to the resource users to develop MRs, where overall objectives are established, c) development of MRs, d) third party audit of the MR, where the success of the MR is evaluated. Draft guidelines and MR invitations have been published, and this report compiles the first proposals for MRs for each of the FarFish case studies. These will then be audited by an independent auditor and the whole process will then be re-iterated. The aim is that by the end of the project, we will have a tested / validated approach for how to manage fisheries in cocreation between authorities and resource users.

This report contains the 2nd management recommendation (MR) invitations submitted to the case studies in the FarFish project i.e. the high-seas fisheries in SW-Atlantic and SE-Atlantic, and the SFPA fisheries in Cape Verde, Senegal, Mauritania and Seychelles. The purpose of these MR invitations is to offer selected operators (resource users) the opportunity to develop MRs following the “second draft general guidelines for making MRs” presented in FarFish deliverable 3.5. The approach presented in the guidelines are based on principles of results-based management (RBM), where the responsibility for fisheries management is partly transferred to the resource users, provided that they meet with necessary requirements set forth by the authorities and provide documentation confirming implementation and achievement of specified management objectives. The advantages of such an approach include facilitation of more bottom-up style of management where the actual resource users and other stakeholders are involved. This approach is likely to increase the sense of ownership, by the resource users, in the management. Other advantages are for example increased transparency, as well as reduced costs and increased coverage of monitoring, control and surveillance. The MR invitations follow up on a pre-invitation dialogues where the basics of the approach have been introduced. The MR invitations include a short description of what is to be the focus of the MRs, identification of the main actors and their roles and responsibilities in the process, details on the current status of the fishery and finally the identification of so-called Outcome Targets (OTs) that are performance goals that the MRs are to meet.

The H2020 project FarFish aims to provide knowledge, tools and methods to support responsible, sustainable and profitable EU fisheries outside European waters. To achieve this, one of the implementation tools is the Stakeholder Hub, a multi-level and multi-stakeholder network integrated by scientists, policymakers, resource users, NGOs and other stakeholders aimed to improve fisheries management competences throughout their participation. The Stakeholder Hub is a responsive and flexible platform that adopts the form of a regional working group for the six case studies involved into the project, but adopting the form of a high-level European platform, or even an international forum for cross-cutting issues. This Intermediate report provides a summary on the Stakeholder Hub implementation in the first half of the project. It highlights lessons learnt and improvement areas for the second part of the project.