The European Union (EU) has nine ‘outermost regions’ (ORs): Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and Saint Martin (France), the Canary Islands (Spain) and the Azores and Madeira (Portugal). The ORs are distinguished by their remoteness from mainland Europe, insularity, small size and islands (except French Guiana), difficult topography and climate and economic dependence on a few products. As a common issue, fisheries in the ORs are characterised by a wide variety of species and gears, small size vessels and numerous landing places.
The EWG 24-06 was tasked to i) provide guidelines for the assessment of balance in the ORs; ii) discuss the preparation of the Member States DCF workplans; and finally iii) analyse and advise on measures to recover the red snapper stock in Guiana waters.
Regarding TOR1, the EWG discussed, presented views and suggestions for the assessment of balance in the outermost regions. Several biological, economic and social indicators were discussed in the ORs context. A sensitivity analysis of the SAR threshold was also conducted, and the results are presented in Annex. Finally, the EWG provided two overview tables with reflections regarding adapting the guidelines to the context of ORs and on new balance indicators.
TOR2 carried out an analysis of the French 2024 economic data submission and highlighted the significant improvements made recently in all ORs except Saint-Martin (which has less than 10 fishing vessels). In this TOR, the EWG 19-19 roadmap was also reviewed where achievements and future areas of work were identified. Still on TOR2 data requirements, analysis and assessment approaches to obtain sustainability indicators were discussed. A discussion was also carried out regarding the main improvements and challenges with the submission of the 2024 workplans regarding the reality in ORs, while plans for future work were presented. A table with several recommendations to further improve the workplans 2025+ was drafted. Finally, the review of national stock assessments was considered and pros and cons of the possible organizations to carry out this work were listed.
Finally, on TOR3 the French Guiana red snapper stock assessment was presented and discussed. It was followed by a discussion of the fisheries reality, namely regarding the significant presence of IUU fishing and market pressures. Possible management measures were discussed in detail, again in the context of high IUU and low monitoring, control and surveillance.
BORGES Lisa;
JUNG Armelle;
GRAS Michael;
2025-12-05
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC143305
978-92-68-30484-6 (online),
2467-0715 (online),
OP KJ-01-25-397-EN-N (online),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC143305,
10.2760/1300009 (online),
