Information & Meetings
	What's new on the website
	Conferences & Events
	New Coastal Publications

Organisations
	New hyperlinks to websites

Environment
	Comb jelly plague reached Caspian Sea

Development & Trends
.	Climate change report stresses importance of ICZM
	North Sea fish stocks: ICES calls for drastic recovery measures
	Strategy aims at saving the Black Sea salmon
	The Living Ems - a restoration plan for Ems and Dollard Estuary

Policy
	“Sustainable” EU support to developing countries
	European Commission appreciates role of fisheries in poverty reduction

What's new on the website

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Events recently announded

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The overview of the Coastal Guide conference and event  meeting list can be found at http://www.coastalguide.org/meetings/

New hyperlinks to websites

Changing management of the Haringvliet Sluices
In 1970, the Haringvliet estuary (SW Netherlands) was cut off from the North Sea to safeguard the densely populated delta of the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt against flooding. In the Haringvliet and the Biesbosch this caused severe ecological damage. In the near future the Dutch government wants to set the Haringvliet sluices ajar and in the long term to open them further to let the estuarine ecosystem recover.

Coasts under Stress 
The Impact of Social and Environmental Restructuring on Environmental and Human Health in Canada

Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic)
Web site on the geology and physical processes of Canada's coastline

MARE Center for Maritime Research 
Interdisciplinary social-science organization established by three university institutes in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The aim of MARE is to collect, advance, and apply scholarly knowledge on the relationship between humankind and the marine and coastal environments.

Comb jelly plague reached Caspian Sea

The comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi is seriously threatening the Caspian Sea ecosystem. It first invaded the Black Sea in the late 1980's causing the fish stock to crash from more than 700,000 to less than 100,000 tons per annum (see Coastal Guide News No. 19 ). The first certified record of Mnemiopsis in the Caspian Sea was made in the autumn of 1999 along the Kazakh coast, most likely transported from the Black Sea via the Volga by ship ballast water. An international team of has announced that the Caspian Sea is already teeming with Mnemiopsis. As the fist-sized jellyfish feeds primarily on zooplankton, it could very well cause the main Caspian fish species called Kilka (a collective name for several sardine-like pelagic fish) that also feed on zooplankton to collapse. This in turn would mean an end to many fisheries around the Caspian Sea. Moreover, Kilka is the main food of the Caspian seal, which also could face a large population decrease. Scientists recommend the introduction of a jellyfish species that feeds on Menmiopsis to solve the problem.
An article of the study will be published in the journal 'Biological Invasions' in February 2001, homepage at http://wwew.wkap.nl/journals/biological_invasions

Climate change report stresses importance of ICZM

In order to better cope with the consequences of the ongoing global climate change, European policies need to be reviewed, says a recently released report "Assessment of Potential Effects and Adaptations for Climate Change in Europe" (ACACIA), commissioned by the European Commission. Coastal zones will be substantially and progressively altered by climate change, actual impacts however, will depend on the magnitude of climate change and the human adaptation to that change. Losses and changes to coastal ecosystems are one problem where adaptation measures appear more limited, particularly in the most threatened areas. Moreover, there is often a conflict between sustaining socio-economic activity and the ecological functioning of the coastal zone in Europe under rising sea levels. The local, national and EU-wide efforts to promote integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) need to be encouraged to strengthen the institutional basis for proactive measures, concludes the report. Nearly all European marine fisheries are either fully or over-exploited, leaving no safety net for possible climate change effects and threatening most European fisheries with collapse. In the current policy context, any decrease in productivity or changes in species distribution are likely to increase conflicts between aquatic resource users. Policy research is urgently needed to reconcile market forces and environmental sustainability and foster adaptive management plans. It is also no longer possible to assume that the future hydrological resource base will be similar to that of the present. Water managers need to develop methodological procedures for adopting a scenario-based approach to strategy or scheme assessment, and develop adaptive techniques that allow incremental adjustments over time.
For further information and to order the full report, e-mail Jackson Environment Institute, University of East Anglia: jei@uea.ac.uk. The full ACACIA Report is available at a cost of 20 pounds sterling (EUR 34) plus 5 pounds sterling (EUR 9) for postage and packing. 
Download the summary of the report at 
http://www.jei.uea.ac.uk/downloads/ACACIA%20-%20summary%20&%20conclusions.pdf

North Sea fish stocks: ICES calls for drastic recovery measures 

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has finalised its annual advice to the EU fisheries ministers and concluded that for several species the situation is alarming. The North Sea cod spawning biomass is outside safe biological limits, and continued fishing at current rates will lead to stock collapse. 
Although the North Sea haddock stock is also below safe biological limits, the 1999 year class is estimated to be strong and should increase the stock to above safe biological limits in the short-term. The situation for North Sea whiting and plaice is rather threatening. For both species, spawning stocks are under the precautionary level. Sole and Horse mackerel stocks are still above the precautionary level, but the exploitation is too high. ICES advises to strongly reduce next year’s Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and support rebuilding plans including provisions to deter directed fishing and reduce by-catches. In December the EU fisheries ministers will decide on the TACs for 2001. In view of these upcoming decisions, Commissioner Fischler has appealed to North Sea fishermen for support of painful measures to save the fish stocks, warning, “there are tough times ahead”. 
Further information:
ICES report: http://www.ices.dk/committe/acfm/comwork/report/2000/contents.html
European Commission DG XIV fisheries: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/fisheries/index_en.htm

Strategy aims at saving the Black Sea salmon 

The contents of a draft management and conservation strategy for Black Sea salmon was endorsed recently by the participants of an international scientific workshop in Batumi, Georgia. The workshop also initiated he establishment of a Black Sea Salmon Forum to promote the strategy, to co-ordinate research and monitoring programmes, and to facilitate sound fisheries management. The Marine Ecology and Fisheries Research Institute in Batumi, Georgia, that hosted the workshop and is involved in a programme to develop a management strategy for Black Sea salmon funded by the European Union’s Tacis programme, volunteered to act as a coordinating body for the forum. The Black Sea salmon is a sub-species of the European trout, Salmo trutta labrax, and is restricted in its distribution to the Black Sea and rivers flowing into it. It has become extinct in many rivers and the remaining known breeding populations in Georgia, Turkey and Russia are under considerable threat from environmental degradation but especially excessive levels of exploitation. The above mentioned strategy document recognizes that each river probably has its own genetically distinct stock. The strategy therefore recommends management plans for each catchment area. It also stresses the need for co-operation and communication between all interested parties. 
For further information please contact Mr Akaki Komakhidze,
Marine Ecology and Fisheries Research Institute, Batumi, Georgia, e-mail: mefri@basri.net

The Living Ems - a restoration plan for Ems and Dollard Estuary

On November 2, at the trilateral International Waddensea Conference, eight Dutch and German nature conservation organizations presented a restoration plan for the estuary of the river Ems. This is one of the rare examples of tidal rivers in western Europe, located at the border of the Netherlands and Germany. Together with the Dollard it forms a tidal nature area. The area is threatened by plans to build a flood-control dam (see Coastal Guide News No. 7 ) and frequent dredging operations to make it accessible for big cruise ships built at a shipyard upstream. The dam is against international conventions signed by the Dutch, German and Danish governments. The Living Ems plan intends to foster a more integrated coastal zone management approach in this region and to stop the dam project. 
The plan is available in German and Dutch from J. Stoop, e-mail stoop@waddenvereniging.nl

“Sustainable” EU support to developing countries

The European Parliament and the Council have adopted a new regulation on supporting developing countries in their efforts to integrate the environmental dimension into their development process. The Community shall provide financial assistance and appropriate expertise aimed at drawing up and promoting the implementation of policies, strategies, tools and technologies for the pursuit of sustainable development. Coastal zone, estuary and wetland management is included to the list of activities to be carried out under this new regulation. 
For further information, read the full regulation at http://www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/dat/2000/l_288/l_28820001115en00010005.pdf

European Commission appreciates role of fisheries in poverty reduction

The European Commission has approved a Communication on European development co-operation policy in fisheries and aquaculture. It underlines the fact that fisheries is an essential sector for many societies in developing countries. Poor communities depending on fishing are increasingly faced with the risk of depleted aquatic resources. If the necessary measures are not taken, the economic, social and ecological situation of some the least developed countries could deteriorate further. The right to fish involves the obligation to fish responsibly, involving actions at the level of European co-operation policy, of other European policies which have an impact on the development of fisheries in the developing countries, and at the level of the EU Member States. The Communication also makes a contribution to preparations for the review of the common fisheries policy, which will be carried out in 2002.
For further information, read the full press release at http://europa.eu.int/comm/fisheries/news_corner/press/inf00_22_en.htm, or download the Communication at http://europa.eu.int/comm/fisheries/doc_et_publ/factsheets/legal_texts/docscom/en/com_00_724_en.pdf

COASTAL GUIDE NEWS is a biweekly newsletter published by the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC) with financial support of Stichting DOEN, the foundation of the Dutch lottery "Postcode Loterij" and the Department of International Nature Affairs of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries. For free subscriptions, comments or contributions to this newsletter, please contact news@coastalguide.org. 

© Articles may be reproduced free of charge with acknowledgement and citation of Coastal Guide News and the URL of the Coastal Guide (http://www.coastalguide.org). The articles of this and previous issues of Coastal Guide News can be found at http://www.coastalguide.org/news

Members of the Coastal Guide News editorial team: Erik Devilee, Levente Galambosi, Irene Lucius, Hanneke Mesters, and Albert Salman. 

Established in 1989, the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC) is an association involving the largest coastal network in Europe with 750 members and member organisations in 40 countries. For more information please contact EUCC International Secretariat, POB 11232, NL-2301 EE Leiden, the Netherlands, tel.: +31-71-5122900, internet: http://www.eucc.nl

© European Union for Coastal Conservation