Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) - Quality aspects of the collection of economic data - methods of calculation of the indicators and sampling strategies SGECA-09-02

The assessment of quality of economic data is a relevant issue that has been raised by several working groups and by different bodies (first of all STECF and RCMs). This issue also affects end users that should be aware of the reliability of data used in the analysis. The new Data Collection Framework establishes the list of economic variables to be collected for the total fleets and for the fleet segments. It also requires Member States to describe the methodologies applied for the data collection and to give information on the quality (accuracy and precision) of estimates. Thus, SGECA 09-02 was asked to give appropriate recommendations and proposals in order to homogenise the presentation of National Programmes and also in order to facilitate the STECF task to evaluate the quality of the data collected by the Member States. Moreover, the Regional Co-ordination Meetings held in 2008 identified several issues within the new DCF requiring further work or clarification. Thus, this report reflects the reviews and discussions on the most frequently applied methodologies to collect economic variables for fleet segments and the common approaches proposed to assess data quality. SGECA reached a consensus on a list of recommendations, that were proposed to STECF for their possible adoption and endorsement. These should allow MS to better comply with the requirements of the DCF in relation to data quality assurance in a more consistent way within an agreed framework as concerns some basic methods and metadata.JRC.DG.G.4-Maritime affair

Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) - Report of the Working Group (SGECA 10-01) on the discussion of methodologies, indicators and format of the 2010 Annual Economic Report (AER)

STECF-SGECA 10-01 convened in Copenhagen during the 8-11th of February 2010 to discuss and seek agreement on the content, indicators, methodologies and format of the 2010 Annual Economic Report (AER). The latest (DCF) data call requirements and how they affect the contents of the AER were also clarified. The availability of new economic and transversal variables are for the first time available under the DCF meant there was an opportunity to include new indicators and variables in the report and also modify the existing ones if necessary, implying significant changes to some or all chapters of the report. Therefore, proposals for improved contents and the overall structure were discussed. In addition, the economic policy advice needs related to the AER were specified, so that the information contained in the report could be appropriately designed with the end users in mind.JRC.DG.G.4-Maritime affair

29th Plenary Meeting Report of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (Plen-08-03)

The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries held its 29th plenary on 3-7 November 2008 in Brussels. The terms of reference included both assessments of STECF working group reports and additional requests submitted to the STECF by the Commission. Topics dealt with ranged from fisheries economics to stock review issues.JRC.G.4-Maritime affair

Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) - Report of the SGMED-09-03 Working Group on the Mediterranean Part II

SGMED-09-03 meeting was held on 14-18 December 2009 in Barza d¿ Ispra (Italy). The report provides specific stock (by species and GSAs) predictions of stock size, fishing mortality and catches in short term (2009-2011) and medium term (2009-2018) under different management scenarios, for the main demersal and small pelagic Mediterranean stocks. STECF reviewed the report during its Plenary meeting on 26-30 April 2010 in Norwich.JRC.DG.G.4-Maritime affair

The TAC Dependency Tool: EU fishing fleet’s economic dependency on stocks subjected to fishing TACs. Online tool v2, including Species_GSA units for the Mediterranean & Black Sea fleet

The present report develops a TAC Dependency Indicator for stocks regulated by a Total Allowable Catch as listed in the Council Regulations fixing fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters, in line with Regulation No 1380/2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The TDI focuses on providing an estimate of the economic relevance that each stock subjected to a TAC has on EU fishing fleets from a regulatory perspective. This approach was chosen taking into consideration the main aim of the exercise, which is to provide policy makers with reference economic data collected under the Data Collection Framework and analysed within the scope of the AER in a format that can be easily linked to TACs and TAC proposals. The TDI consists in the proportion between the value of landings associated to a given stock and the total value of landings of a fleet segment. Proportional employment and GVA associated to each TAC unit are also provided.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Biomass flows in the European Union: The EU Biomass Flows tool, version 2020

The Sankey biomass diagram is a representation of harmonised data from the various Joint Research Centre (JRC) units contributing to the BIOMASS Assessment study of the JRC . It represents the flows of biomass for each sector of the bioeconomy, from supply to uses including trade. The diagram enables deeper analysis and comparison of the different countries and sectors across a defined time series. The former Sankey biomass diagram was published in 2017 and has been used in multiple research activities and publications. Since its publication, the flexibility, analysis capabilities and user experience of the interactive tool have been improved. The new EU Biomass Flows tool was created based on the Energy Flows tool from Eurostat. The EU Biomass Flows tool displays biomass flows in Sankey diagrams and it relies on the methodology to extract and integrate data developed for the former biomass Sankey diagram. The new tool offers also an increased granularity of data for some biomass types: crop and residue production can now be shown in crop categories, animal- and plant-based food can be disaggregated into their nutrients. It has also significantly improved the visualisation of the data in charts and graphs, as well as enabling visibility of the evolution over time. Finally, users can download the full or a partial set of data. In this document, we summarise the sources and data transformation steps to create the database used to represent these biomass flows, as well as the main data gaps and challenges encountered. We also briefly discuss the main features and functionalities of the new EU Biomass Flows tool. Finally, we present some insights based on the represented data and potential future research opportunities.JRC.D.4-Economics of Agricultur

The Sankey Biomass Diagram: Research Brief

This Research Brief highlights the key points of the Sankey Biomass DiagramJRC.D.4-Economics of Agricultur

Joint Observation of the Galactic Center with MAGIC and CTA-LST-1

MAGIC is a system of two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), designed to detect very-high-energy gamma rays, and is operating in stereoscopic mode since 2009 at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos in La Palma, Spain. In 2018, the prototype IACT of the Large-Sized Telescope (LST-1) for the Cherenkov Telescope Array, a next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory, was inaugurated at the same site, at a distance of approximately 100 meters from the MAGIC telescopes. Using joint observations between MAGIC and LST-1, we developed a dedicated analysis pipeline and established the threefold telescope system via software, achieving the highest sensitivity in the northern hemisphere. Based on this enhanced performance, MAGIC and LST-1 have been jointly and regularly observing the Galactic Center, a region of paramount importance and complexity for IACTs. In particular, the gamma-ray emission from the dynamical center of the Milky Way is under debate. Although previous measurements suggested that a supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* plays a primary role, its radiation mechanism remains unclear, mainly due to limited angular resolution and sensitivity. The enhanced sensitivity in our novel approach is thus expected to provide new insights into the question. We here present the current status of the data analysis for the Galactic Center joint MAGIC and LST-1 observations

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

The Spanish Hake Market: Analysis of Products and Markets Relations Comparing Several Methodologies

The present study characterises several hake products (depending on the species, gear fished and size) in several levels of the market chain, by estimating the flexibilities and investigating the presence of market power along the value chain for these products, using both regression and cointegration methodology. The analysis is first done using regressions, and it clearly confirms the existence of a wide range of products categorised as hake. Scale flexibilities point out the existence of different luxury, normal and inferior products commercialised as hake. Own price flexibilities indicate that all products behave as inflexible goods. Cross price flexibilities demonstrate that the different hake products behave as substitutes for most of the other hake products. Cross price flexibilities also illustrate xii that different hake products may have different relationships with other fish products, and with some of them may have even stronger ones that with other hake products. The asymmetry analysis, on both price-quantity and price-transmission, also support the evidence of these different hake products¿ behaviours and it helps to explain the commercialisation process. When using regressions to deal with time series, the residuals are often correlated with their own lagged values. And this serial autocorrelation violates the standard assumption of regression theory that disturbances are not correlated with other disturbances. Hence, this correlation problem is treated mainly with four different, but related, approaches: Autocorrelation, Seasonality, Dynamic models and Non- Stationarity. From the analysis it can be seen that seasonality, and accounting lagged variables as explanatory variables in general, is an important factor to explain both prices and landings behaviour. Nevertheless, results using these approaches do not change the previous results significantly. However, recent studies have shown that traditional econometric tools (regressions) are not efficient when working with non-stationary series. Instead, cointegration methodology has been proven to be the appropriate tool to infer causal long run relationships between non-stationary time series. So, the same analysis is performed using the Johansen cointegration test; however, the results obtained show very few similarities with the results previously obtained using other methodologies. Moreover, cointegration tests tend to accept fewer relations between variables, and present a higher level of uncertainty, in both the analysis and the results. From these results, it can be concluded that hake products behave in different ways, which questions the suitability to consider hake as a proper category (that consists of all hake products). On the other hand, hake demand (in quantities and value) and prices xiii should be implemented in database and analysis with some level of product aggregation given the large number of hake products. Hence the present study also tries to find the proper aggregation groups, in which different hake products can be classed together by testing product aggregation depending on size, gear used, origin and species; because only a proper aggregation level can ensure that the behavioural properties which apply to the disaggregate relationships apply also to the aggregate relationships. The results obtained confirm that not all hake products could be aggregated together, so the suitable use of the hake category is rejected; moreover, it is shown some light on the possible aggregation groups that can be properly used. Thus, these conclusions question the results from some previous studies on seafood demand and market integration that have not taken into account the proper aggregation level, and so the existence of different product behaviours inside a category.JRC.G.4-Maritime affair