Impact assessment of EMFF measures on Good Environmental Status (GES) as defined by Italy

Fisheries involve an intensive use of European maritime regions according to the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The recent CFP reform has adopted an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management that is characterised by enhanced regionalisation and multi-annual management plans. It aims to avoid the adverse environmental impacts of fishing activities, which are to be mitigated as far as possible, while the wasteful practice of discarding unwanted catches is to be phased out by 2019, at least for species with minimum landing size. The paper investigates the ability of selected measures, envisaged by the CFP reform through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), to sustain and attain the objectives of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which aims at achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) in marine waters according to an ecosystem-based approach. The analysis uses an expert judgment-based approach and a specially devised questionnaire, where fisheries science and management experts were asked to assess the impact and interaction of selected EMFF measures on GES achievement as defined for the Italian seas. Their responses are discussed and compared with information coming from an extensive literature review. The results of the analysis highlight a general agreement between EMFF actions and GES objectives but also identify some potential conflicts.