Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) - Report of the Working Group on the Evaluation of Economic Variables to Be Collected for the Fishing Industry, the Processing and Aquaculture Sectors Under the New EC Data Collection Regulation (SGECA 08-01) - Joint Working Group on Economic Affairs (SGECA), Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF)

Previous to the SGECA 08-01 meeting held in Lisbon on the 21-25th of January 2009, JRC and DG MARE had produced a "Commission Staff Working Paper" on the economic parameters to be collected within the new DCR (Data Collection Regulation). The Working paper incorporated the outcomes of previous meetings on the subject as well as some indicators important for the Commission. The aim of the Lisbon meeting was for the experts to provide scientific input to the Working Paper as a final step before the paper was adopted in the draft of the new DCR. Considering the close nature of the Economic parameters for the processing and aquaculture industries, it was agreed to split the participants in two sub-groups, one dealing with the fisheries and one with processing and aquaculture industries. STECF reviewed the report of the SGECA 08-02 Working Group during its plenary meeting on 14th to 18th of April 2008.JRC.G.4-Maritime affair

Overview of the international fishing activities on the Cleaver Bank and Frisian Front : update with Dutch, British, Danish, German, Belgian, Swedish and French data for 2010-2015

In response to a request to Wageningen University & Research from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs an update of the data and analysis on the value of the fishing activities of the Dutch, British, Danish, German, Belgian, Swedish and French fishing fleets on the proposed closed areas on the Cleaver Bank and Frisian Front was prepared. This report uses the method presented in Chapter 5 of ‘Effects of seabed protection on the Frisian Front and Central Oyster Grounds’ (Van Oostenbrugge et al. 2015) to update the reports already published by Wageningen Economic Research on fishing activity on the proposed closed areas on the Cleaver Bank and Frisian Front (Hamon et al. 2013; Oostenbrugge and Hamon 2014). The effort, value and landings by the Dutch, British, Danish, German, Belgian, Swedish and French fishing fleets are presented for a five year period (2010-2015) and show variations over the last years but generally show a decline in effort in both areas. Value of landings and gross value added show an upward trend for the Dutch fishery in the Cleaver Bank (with a low point in 2013) but a downward trend for the British, German and Belgian fleets and for the Frisian Front. Main target species of the Cleaver Bank are plaice, targeted by the beam trawl fleet, followed by mackerel, cod and whiting in the rest of the demersal fleet. On the Frisian Front, gillnets target mainly sole and cod. The total value of landings has remained relatively stable on the Cleaver Bank between €1.6m and €2m over years (with the exception of the low 2013 value at €0.7m) while it remained low for the Frisian Front around €17,000 per year on average for the fleets from the countries considered. Within fleets, the dependency of individuals on the areas to be closed can greatly vary although the value of landings in the proposed closures represent less than 1% of the total value of landings for the Dutch fleet. For the Dutch fisheries about 30 to 40 vessels fish a minor part (less than 10%) of their revenue from the proposed closed areas on the Cleaver Bank and only 1 or 2 vessels get more than 10% of their revenue from the proposed closures. Between 15 and 20 vessels would be impacted by a seasonal closure on the Frisian Front net fishery, of those vessels only one fished more than 10% of its revenue in the proposed closure for one year

Wind op Zee : bepaling van de waarde van geplande windparkgebieden voor de visserij

De ontwikkeling van windparken in de Noordzee heeft economische consequenties voor de visserij. In deze notitie is met behulp van de historische visserijpatronen in de periode 2010-2017 de waarde van de bestaande en geplande windmolenparkgebieden tot 2030 in het Nederlandse deel van de Noordzee voor de visserij bepaald. Daarbij is ook rekening gehouden met de cumulatieve effecten van andere ruimteclaims op de Noordzee op de waarde van deze gebieden. De visserij-activiteiten in de geplande windmolenparkgebieden droegen in de periode 2010-2017 gemiddeld 1.52 mln. euro per jaar bij aan de bruto toegevoegde waarde van de Nederlandse kottervisserij. Dit was 1,36% van de totale bruto toegevoegde waarde van de Nederlandse kottersector en 2,65% van de totale bruto toegevoegde waarde van de Nederlandse kottersector op het Nederlands Continentaal Plat (NCP). De bijdrage varieerde van 1,0 tot 2,5 mln. euro per jaar. Voor individuele schepen was de variatie van de bijdrage uit de geplande windmolenparkgebieden aan de inkomsten veel hoger (0-17%). Het toekomstig belang van de gesloten en te sluiten windmolenparkgebieden voor de visserij wordt mede bepaald door de toekomstige ontwikkelingen in ecologie van de Noordzee, de beleidsmatige en de sociaaleconomische context. Bij sluiting van alle geplande natuurgebieden en windmolenparken in zowel het Nederlandse deel als het buitenlandse deel van de Noordzee zal de bijdrage van de windmolengebieden aan de bruto toegevoegde waarde van de Nederlandse kottersector toenemen tot maximaal 1,57% en bij een 'harde Brexit' tot maximaal 1,93%. De waarde van de gebieden voor de visserij is niet gelijk aan het economisch effect van sluiting van de gebieden voor de visserij. Een nadere analyse van de gedragsveranderingen in de visserij bij sluiting van de gebieden en de resulterende effecten op de kosten en inkomsten is nodig om hier uitsluitsel over te kunnen geven. Gezien alle gebiedsbeperkingen en hun invloed op buitenlandse visserijen, is het daarbij van belang het internationale perspectief niet uit het oog te verliezen

A Comparative Analysis of Recent Trends in the Characteristics of Selected European Fishing Fleets

The objective of the paper is to briefly present a comparative analysis of trends in the characteristics of selected European fleets, observed over the last fifteen years, as an introduction to three empirical studies of the behavioural determinants of these trends. The analysis presented aims at (i) describing changes observed in the characteristics and production of the selected fleets; and (ii) gaining some insights as to the factors driving these changes. Fleets included in the analysis are the Galician fleets operating in the Celtic Sea, the Basque trawler fleets, the South-Brittany trawler fleets, the UK North-Sea beam trawler fleets, and the Dutch large cutter and Eurocutter fleets. Results show that despite their diversity in terms of size, technical characteristics, and production, most of these fleets have been decreasing in size, with an associated stagnation or decrease in total landed value. In most of the fleets, there has been a tendency for the average power and tonnage of vessels to at least be maintained, and often to increase. The presentation serves as an introduction to three empirical studies of behaviour, focusing on explaining changes in the characteristics, activity and/or production of the fleets based on an analysis of behaviour

The decline of mussel aquaculture in the European Union: causes, economic impacts and opportunities

ABSTRATC: In contrast to the increasing aquaculture production of mussels worldwide, production in the European Union (EU) has shown a decreasing trend over the last two decades. Aquaculture production of mussels in the EU peaked in the late 1990s at more than 600 000 tonnes; by 2016, production volume had dropped by 20% to 480 000 tonnes. As mussel production represents more than 1/3 of EU aquaculture production, this decrease is an important contributor to the stagnation of EU aquaculture. Previous studies have suggested diseases, lack of mussel seed (spat), and low profitability as the main causes of the EU mussel production decrease. In this study, we investigate how economic and environmental factors have contributed. Moreover, we examine if the different mussel production techniques (raft, longline, on-bottom, and "bouchot") have been differently affected, by analysing the economic performance and cost structure evolution for the period 2010-2016. We complement these results with a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of the EU mussel sector based on expert knowledge

Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Decline in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases Along the Heart-Brain Axis

Background: We hypothesize that Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related pathology may accelerate cognitive decline in patients with cardiovascular diseases. Objective: To investigate the association between blood-based biomarkers of AD, astrocyte activation, and neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Methods: From the multi-center Heart-Brain study, we included 412 patients with heart failure, carotid occlusive disease or vascular cognitive impairment (age:68.6±9.0) and 128 reference participants (65.7±7.5). Baseline amyloid-β42/40 (Aβ42/40), phosphorylated-tau181 (pTau181), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and neurofilament light (NfL) were determined using SiMoA (Quanterix). Memory, attention, language, and executive functioning were evaluated (follow-up:2.1±0.3 years). We applied linear mixed models with terms for biomarker, time and biomarker*time interactions, adjusted for age, sex, education, and site, to assess associations between biomarkers and cognitive decline. Results: Among patients, Aβ42/40 was not associated with cognitive performance at baseline. However, lower Aβ42/40 was associated with steeper decline in global cognition (β±SE:0.04±0.02). Higher pTau181 was associated with worse baseline performance on global cognition (-0.14±0.04) and memory (-0.31±0.09) and with steeper decline in global cognition (-0.07±0.02), memory (-0.09±0.04), attention (-0.05±0.02), and language (-0.10±0.03). Higher GFAP was associated with worse baseline performance on global cognition (-0.22±0.05), memory (-0.43±0.10), attention (-0.14±0.06), language (-0.15±0.05), and executive functioning (-0.15±0.05) and steeper decline in global cognition (-0.05±0.01). Higher NfL was associated with worse baseline performance on global cognition (-0.16±0.04), memory (-0.28±0.09), attention (-0.20±0.06), and executive functioning (-0.10±0.04), but was not associated with performance over time. In reference participants, no associations were found. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that blood-based biomarkers of AD-related pathology predict cognitive decline in patients with cardiovascular diseases

A Randomized Trial of Intravenous Alteplase before Endovascular Treatment for Stroke

The value of administering intravenous alteplase before endovascular treatment (EVT) for acute ischemic stroke has not been studied extensively, particularly in non-Asian populations. METHODS We performed an open-label, multicenter, randomized trial in Europe involving patients with stroke who presented directly to a hospital that was capable of providing EVT and who were eligible for intravenous alteplase and EVT. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive EVT alone or intravenous alteplase followed by EVT (the standard of care). The primary end point was functional outcome on the modified Rankin scale (range, 0 [no disability] to 6 [death]) at 90 days. We assessed the superiority of EVT alone over alteplase plus EVT, as well as noninferiority by a margin of 0.8 for the lower boundary of the 95% confidence interval for the odds ratio of the two trial groups. Death from any cause and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage were the main safety end points. RESULTS The analysis included 539 patients. The median score on the modified Rankin scale at 90 days was 3 (interquartile range, 2 to 5) with EVT alone and 2 (interquartile range, 2 to 5) with alteplase plus EVT. The adjusted common odds ratio was 0.84 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.62 to 1.15; P=0.28), which showed neither superiority nor noninferiority of EVT alone. Mortality was 20.5% with EVT alone and 15.8% with alteplase plus EVT (adjusted odds ratio, 1.39; 95% CI, 0.84 to 2.30). Symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage occurred in 5.9% and 5.3% of the patients in the respective groups (adjusted odds ratio, 1.30; 95% CI, 0.60 to 2.81). CONCLUSIONS In a randomized trial involving European patients, EVT alone was neither superior nor noninferior to intravenous alteplase followed by EVT with regard to disability outcome at 90 days after stroke. The incidence of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage was similar in the two groups