On 26th February, a unique meeting will be held in Brussels, Belgium, bringing together Europe’s fishermen and their representatives with policy makers and scientists. The meeting’s purpose will be for attendees to address how they, collectively, can collate the information necessary to make the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) work in practice - despite historical tensions between their sectors.
The gathering will take place against the backdrop of “regionalisation” – a move away from centralised fisheries management, to a to a more devolved approach, where Member States work with regional stakeholders to decide upon the details.

Specifically, participants from Member States, RACs, research organizations and European Institutions will spend the day working together to thrash out the practicalities of:
How fishermen and scientists can best work together, on land and at sea, to gather and share the information needed for this new type of management.
How policy-makers can both support and make best use of this collaborative approach.
WHO: Representatives from disparate and often conflicting arenas of science, policy, and industry, from across Europe.
WHAT: Workshop to discuss ‘Putting the Science into Regionalization: Participatory Approaches in the New, Regionalized CFP’
WHERE: Brussels, Belgium
WHEN: Wednesday 26th February

In order for regionalization to be successful, it is well recognized that steps must be outlined for the organization and application of the required knowledge-base. So industry, scientists and policy makers are working together to explore strategies for knowledge sharing and development, to forge progress for a successful regionalization.

The result of the day will be a set of points of consensus about the next steps that need to be taken. These will be shared with all relevant parties.