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In a communication of 24 November 2016 from the Director General of DG MARE, Mr Joao Aguiar Machado, to the Director General of the JRC, Mr Vladimir Sucha, the JRC was requested to carry out an analysis to determine the proportions of fish stocks distributed in the waters of the various Member States and of the catches of such fish and in particular, as a matter of urgency, to obtain the best possible information on catches (and the value of those catches) taken from the UK EEZ by EU-27 states. Subsequent to that communication a meeting between representatives from the relevant EU-27 Member States (BE, DE, DK, ES, FR, IE, NL, SE, herafter referred to as the EU-8), DG MARE and JRC was held on 16 December 2016 to discuss the approach to be taken andthe timeline. At that meeting it was agreed that during January 2017, Member States would be given the opportunity to resubmit data for cases where there was the need to amend the data previously submitted under the 2016 DCF Fleet Economic and FDI data calls (e.g. 2015 landings data were preliminary in the 2016 Fleet economics data call). It was also agreed that the JRC would provide its data upload facility, compile and analyse the data submitted by Member States and produce a report containing as primary product, 5-year averages of estimates of landings in weight and value by each (relevant) Member State from the UK EEZ, also expressed as percentage of total MS landings and value, plus tables of the breakdown of such estimates by fish species and Member State. This report presents the results of the analyses undertaken by the JRC., JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resources

Upon request by DG MARE the JRC carried out an analysis of fisheries landings and value of catches from the UK EEZ by the EU Member States and by the UK from the EU-27 and UK EEZ. The data used was submitted by the Member States and the UK under the remit of the EU Data Collection Framework Regulation to the JRC Fisheries Dependent Information (FDI) Database. The data covered 2015 to 2018. The main report contains estimates of landings in weight and value by EU Member States (MSs) with fishing activity in UK EEZ and vice-versa, from the UK in the EU EEZs, plus tables of the breakdown of these estimates by fish species and Member State (MS) for the period 2015-18. In addition to the main report, the JRC also prepared, following a DG MARE request, this report as an addendum to include information on all landings, including from outside FAO area 27, and a comparison with the 2019’s United Kingdom commercial sea fisheries landings by Exclusive Economic Zone of capture: 2012 – 2018 report prepared by the UK’s Marine Management Organisation., JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resources

The European Commission’s Science and Knowledge Service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), decided to try working hand-in-hand with leading European science centres and museums. Behind this decision was the idea that the JRC could better support EU Institutions in engaging with the European public. The fact that European Union policies are firmly based on scientific evidence is a strong message which the JRC is uniquely able to illustrate. Such a collaboration would not only provide a platform to explain the benefits of EU policies to our daily lives but also provide an opportunity for European citizens to engage by taking a more active part in the EU policy making process for the future. A PILOT PROGRAMME To test the idea, the JRC launched an experimental programme to work with science museums: a perfect partner for three compelling reasons. Firstly, they attract a large and growing number of visitors. Leading science museums in Europe have typically 500 000 visitors per year. Furthermore, they are based in large European cities and attract local visitors as well as tourists from across Europe and beyond. The second reason for working with museums is that they have mastered the art of how to communicate key elements of sophisticated arguments across to the public and making complex topics of public interest readily accessible. That is a high-value added skill and a crucial part of the valorisation of public-funded research, never to be underestimated. Finally museums are, at present, undergoing something of a renaissance. Museums today are vibrant environments offering new techniques and technologies to both inform and entertain, and attract visitors of all demographics., JRC.H.2-Knowledge Management Methodologies, Communities and Dissemination

People, planet, prosperity and peace are four priorities shared by Africa and Europe, and areas where opportunities for beneficial cooperation abound. Over the past three decades, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has worked with many organisations and institutions across Africa. This report and its accompanying interactive online service ‘Africa StoryMaps’ present the key findings from this collaboration, and set out options the decision-making, research and education communities may consider. The report focuses on the African dimension of the partnership. It explores the opportunities and challenges arising from the fact that Africa has over twice the population of the European Union (EU), is the world’s most youthful continent, has an economy that is growing faster than that of the EU, is almost seven times larger geographically, yet is vulnerable to diverse internal and external stresses. Tell us what you think about this report. Please fill out and return our feedback form (PDF) at https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/file/document/africa-report-feedback-form., JRC.D.6-Knowledge for Sustainable Development and Food Security

Establishing an efficient traceability framework for fish products is crucial for consumer protection and fisheries management and conservation. This is well reflected in the EU legislation. The EU general food law emphasizes strongly that European citizens must have access to safe and wholesome food of the highest standard. Consumer protection is supported by a stringent traceability concept as stipulated in Regulation (EC) 178/2002. This notion is also expressed in the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) basic regulation (EU) 1380/2013, according to which fishing and aquaculture must be environmentally, economically and socially sustainable while providing a source of healthy food for all EU citizens. Under the CFP the need for traceability is not exclusively raised in the context of consumer protection, but also as a necessary component for fisheries control and enforcement in Regulation (EU) 1224/2009 and in the context of the EU’s ambitious strategy to fight Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing under the remit of Regulation (EC) 1005/2008. Recent scientific advances, particularly in the fields of genetics and genomics, have led to the development of novel and improved technologies, and efforts are under way to harness their potential for the species identification of unknown fish samples or products. This report reviews these efforts, describing the technologies and the early results obtained for fish product traceability. Each of these technologies have the potential to fill some specific existing gaps, although they come with their own individual set of disadvantages. Understanding those and monitoring progress is thus crucial for their proper integration in existing traceability frameworks., JRC.F.7-Knowledge for Health and Consumer Safety

The report is the result of fruitful collaboration between EASAC and the JRC. It has been prepared by a working group of experts drawn from the European National Science Academies, which was supported by the JRC. It is hoped that the report will prove useful in the further development and implementation of European Union marine and maritime policy as well as the organisation of supporting science needed to inform and guide these policies. The last ten years have seen a growth in marine and maritime policymaking within the European Union with a key feature being the concept of the ecosystem approach to guide sustainable use of the seas. In view of this increasing focus on coherent marine and maritime policy and governance within the EU, as well as globally, the EASAC Council decided in December 2013 to conduct a study on the issue of marine sustainability. This decision particularly acknowledged the need to provide advice from the point of view of the European science academies on this new direction of marine policy and to highlight the particular challenges that this poses to the organisation of science. The report has the aim of contributing to the governance challenge of how to integrate the various aspects of marine policy (fisheries management, biodiversity conservation and marine environmental protection) as part of a coherent ecosystem approach. It considers how current science knowledge on marine ecosystems and the organisation of science can support an integrated approach to management of the seas. The report looks at a number of key aspects for sustainable development in changing oceans and seas, and particularly highlights the key scientific challenges in addressing these issues. The report presents both recommendations from science for policy development, and recommendations on policy for science. The health of the oceans and coastal seas is vital for the future well-being of all of Europe, indeed of entire mankind, and sustainable management of this sensitive and fast changing component of the global ecosystem is essential., JRC.A.3-Inter-institutional, International Relations and Outreach

The Arctic is experiencing unprecedented and disproportionately high rates of environmental change due to effects of climate change. These changing conditions are making it easier to exploit the natural wealth of the Arctic (mineral, fisheries, land) while putting the existence of Arctic ecosystems and the indigenous population that rely on them under threat. EU institutions have recognised these opportunities for, and threats to, the Arctic. The EU Commission and the EEAS (European External Action Service) are due to “present proposals for the further development of an integrated and coherent Arctic Policy” in the first quarter of 2016. A cornerstone of EU efforts is engagement with the Arctic Council, the high-level intergovernmental forum of States bordering the Arctic, representatives of indigenous peoples, and permanent observers (including seven EU Member States). The Arctic Council has not yet pronounced on the EU’s longstanding application for observer status, and will not do so before 2017. By virtue of its scientific excellence, JRC engagement with the Arctic Council and its subsidiary bodies is therefore currently one of the few channels for direct engagement of the EU with the Arctic Council. This report presents JRC activities in support of the Arctic Council and its bodies, and possibilities for their further development, identifying three alternative paths for future engagement in support of EU Arctic policy making., JRC.H.2-Air and Climate

The present report aims to review knowledge and resources from previous research relevant for the assessment of risks emerging from aquaculture, in particular with a view on the three commercially important target species gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) in the context of the FP7 project AquaTrace. The limited information on escapees and of genetic and genomic knowledge in the target species result in specific challenges for a risk assessment which are addressed here. In particular the development of management goals and assessment endpoints, indispensable to any robust risk assessment are discussed., JRC.G.3-Maritime affairs

Escapes or releases of domesticated aquaculture fish pose a potential risk of adverse effects on native fish gene pools. The FP7 project AquaTrace applies molecular genetic tools, which will improve the ability for tracing farmed fish in the wild and for documentation of their potential effects on wild conspecifics. Based on the scientific insights the project provides a risk assessment and management recommendations concerning the genetic impact of aquaculture fish on wild fish gene pools. In the frame of the AquaTrace project, this document aims to identify the key stakeholders and to draw a roadmap for the risk assessment in line with the relevant work package., JRC.G.4-Maritime affairs

This Data Collection Framework (DCF) coverage report was prepared by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) as part of an Administrative Arrangement with DG MARE. The document provides an overview of the timeliness and completeness of the Member States data submissions to JRC in response to the call for aquaculture data concerning 2008-2011 issued by DG MARE under the DCF (Council Regulation No 199/2008). The report also provides some indication of data quality, summarising major quality issues detected by Expert Working Group convened under the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF EWG 13-10). The report is part of the end user feedback provided to DG MARE to facilitate the evaluation of EU Member State compliance with obligations under the DCF., JRC.G.4-Maritime affairs

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing has had a major role in the overexploitation of global fish populations. In response, international regulations have been imposed and many fisheries have been ‘eco-certified’ by consumer organizations, but methods for independent control of catch certificates and eco-labels are urgently needed. Here we show that, by using gene-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms, individual marine fish can be assigned back to population of origin with unprecedented high levels of precision. By applying high differentiation single nucleotide polymorphism assays, in four commercial marine fish, on a pan-European scale, we find 93–100% of individuals could be correctly assigned to origin in policy-driven case studies. We show how case-targeted single nucleotide polymorphism assays can be created and forensically validated, using a centrally maintained and publicly available database. Our results demonstrate how application of gene-associated markers will likely revolutionize origin assignment and become highly valuable tools for fighting illegal fishing and mislabelling worldwide.

This Data Collection Framework (DCF) coverage report was prepared by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) as part of an Administrative Arrangement with DG MARE. The present report provides an overview of the timeliness and completeness of the Member States data submissions to JRC in response to the 2012 call for Black Sea fisheries data issued by DG MARE under the DCF (Council Regulation No 199/2008)., JRC.G.4-Maritime affairs

Landscape genetics, which considers genetic population structure in the context of spatially referenced parameters in the surrounding landscape, has been shown to be extremely useful for wildlife management. Unfortunately its widespread uptake beyond the research community is hampered due to a lack of effective communication of useable information in a suitable format for application by stakeholders such as wildlife regulators or managers. To improve the communication of suitable information, geovisualization of results should be facilitated in a comprehensible format for stakeholders without GIS or genetic expertise. Existing Web-based solutions do not provide adequate support for the visualization of multi-attribute spatially referenced genetic population structure information. As a solution, we propose an appropriate symbology to communicate landscape genetic information through the existing suite of web-based spatial software provided by the OpenGeo Stack. A full problem description, review of available technologies, development rationale, and theoretical implementation of the proposed symbology are provided., JRC.G.4-Maritime affairs