Linking marine fisheries to environmental objectives: a case study on seafloor integrity under European maritime policies

Fisheries is regarded a significant impact to the marine environment, and the management of fisheries under maritime environmental policies will be an important task for the future. A relative ecological risk model is applied to define risk components of gain and loss in relationship to 7 demersal fishing métiers for the seafloor ecosystem in the German EEZ. Four scenarios are evaluated against the policy goals from European maritime policies. It is shown that two measures combined in an integrative assessment, i.e. effort reduction to MSY and areal closures, are likely to meet requirements from 3 environmental policies, i.e. the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Habitats Directive, and the Common Fisheries Policy. Sustainability in terms of maximum sustainable yield for fisheries is likely to provide only partial improvement of the environmental status of the marine ecosystem. The implementation into the pressure-state-response framework of environmental management is discussed.