The session was attended by delegations from Great Britain, Denmark (including experts from Greenland and the Faroe Islands), the European Union (including Germany, Spain,Portugal, Estonia), Canada, Norway, the Russian Federation, the United States, Ukraine, Japan, employees of the NAFO Secretariat, as well as observers from a number of international organizations.
Within the framework of the session, meetings of four Standing Committees were held: on the environment (STACFEN), on publications (STACPUB), on the coordination of research activities (STACREC) and on fisheries Science (STACFIS). At the plenary sessions of the Scientific Council, the results of the work were heard and the recommendations of the committees were approved. The participants of the Scientific Council also heard reports from a number of working groups that met between the June sessions of the Scientific Council in 2020 and in 2021: the Working Group on an Environmental Approach to Stock Assessment (WGESA, November 2020 and March 2021), the Advisory Group on the Catch Assessment Strategy (CESAG, April 2021). Some results were used to justify the volume of ODE stocks of commercial hydrobionts of the NAFO Convention Area for 2022-2024. The Scientific Council also prepared responses to special requests from the NAFO Fishing Commission and coastal States.
The Russian delegation took an active part in the work of all the Standing Committees of the National Assembly. The greatest attention of domestic specialists was paid to issues related to the development of recommendations on the allowable catch for the most important fishery species: black halibut of the 3LMNO microdistrict, cod of the 3M microdistrict, sea bass of the 3M, 3LN and 3O microdistricts.
According to the results of the meetings of the STACFIS Committee of the National Assembly, the following volumes of allowable catch for 2022 were recommended: black halibut of microdistricts 2+3KLMNO– 15864 tons; cod of the 3M microdistrict – 3000 tons; cod of the 3NO microdistrict– preservation of the moratorium; sea bass of the 3M microdistrict – 10933 tons; flounder-ruff of the 3LNO microdistrict– preservation of the moratorium; flounder-ruff of the 3M microdistrict – preservation of the moratorium; prickly stingray of the 3LNO microdistrict– 3511 tons; yellow– tailed flounder of 3LNO microdistricts– 22100 t; long flounder of 3NO microdistricts– preservation of the moratorium; capelin of 3NO microdistricts– preservation of the moratorium; black halibut of 1ABCD microdistricts-36730 t; white burbot of 3NO– 400 t microdistricts; northern short-finned squid of subdistricts 3+4 – 34000 T. The final volumes of the ODE will be set during the annual session of the NAFO Commission in September 2021.
As at the previous sessions of the National Assembly, the possible consequences of the NAFO policy for the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (UME) are of some concern. The most significant result of the last meeting is the recommendations presented on the creation of new and expansion of existing sites closed for bottom fishing. The position of individual countries, including the Russian Federation, on the need for an exhaustive justification for each of these cases can only delay the submission of such proposals to the Fishing Commission for consideration. This is confirmed by the format of presenting the coordinates of the proposed closures, supported not only by data on the distribution of significant concentrations of UME indicator species and their distribution ranges, but also by an analysis of the expected impact of new closures on the fishery. These data appeared relatively recently, and in the future they will only become more. The results of the assessment of a significant negative impact on marine ecosystems also contribute to the formation of an opinion on the need for additional protective measures.
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The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) was established in 1979 and currently regulates fishing in the northwest Atlantic outside the economic zones of coastal States. NAFO is headquartered in Halifax, Canada.NAFO members are 12 Contracting Parties, including Denmark (for the Faroe Islands and Greenland), the European Union, Iceland, Canada, Cuba, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Russia, the United States, Ukraine, France for Saint-Pierre and Miquellon, Japan. The world fishing community considers NAFO as one of the authoritative organizations in the development of legal norms for the management of aquatic biological resources at the international level. The NAFO regulates the fishing of the following main species: cod, black halibut, sea bass, long flounder, stingrays, white burbot, shrimp, squid and others.
VNIRO Press Service