The European Commission published, on the 15th Abril, a Communication on the role of fisheries management in implementing an ecosystem approach to marine management. In this text, the Commission outlines how the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) can help implement a more joined-up approach to protect the ecological balance of our oceans as a sustainable source of wealth and well-being for future generations.

The key objectives are to minimise the impacts of fishing on the wider marine environment by reducing the overall level of fishing pressure, and to ensure that fisheries measures are used fully to support the cross-sectoral approach defined by the EU's Marine Strategy and The Habitats Directive. This should ensure protection for vulnerable habitats and sensitive species, prevent disruptions to the food chain, safeguard the integrity of key ecosystem processes, and thus create a healthy marine environment which will positively support a thriving fishing industry, alongside other sustainable human activities. The present Communication forms part of the first wave of actions to be implemented under the new integrated Maritime Policy

The CFP is committed to the progressive implementation of a precautionary, ecosystem approach to fisheries management, as stated in the 2002 Regulation on the Common Fisheries Policy. The goal of an ecosystem approach is to ensure the sustainable management of living aquatic resources within meaningful ecological boundaries. This means considering the whole ecosystem, not simply that isolated element within it which is of economic interest, and minimising both the direct and indirect impact of fishing operations on the future functioning, diversity and integrity of the ecosystems concerned.

The first task of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management must therefore be to reduce fishing pressure, which is currently running above sustainable levels in a majority of commercial EU fisheries. To do so will not simply reduce the mortality rate for target fish stocks, it will also reduce the incidental impact of fishing activities on other species which are taken as by-catch, and on their habitats.

Another key element in protecting ecosystem integrity is to ensure that fisheries policy is fully coherent with and supportive of the actions taken under the cross-sectoral Marine Strategy and Habitats Directives. The Marine Strategy Directive, adopted last year, forms the environmental pillar of the EU's integrated Maritime Policy. It deals with the protection of Member States marine waters, focusing on their ecosystems at the regional level, and calls on the Member States which share a given region to establish strategies to achieve 'good environmental status' and a roadmap of how they intend to get there.

The 1992 Habitats Directive deals with specific habitats which have their own defined characteristics and are clearly delimited in space. The Directive provides the legal basis for establishing a Europe-wide network of representative protected areas (Natura 2000). Recent years have seen an increased focus on establishing a network of marine protected areas designated under the Directive.

Member States are encouraged to use aid under the European Fisheries Fund to strengthen the implementation of this approach.