Designation of Special Management Areas Notice no. 34 of 2013.

This Notice, implementing the 2007 Fishery Act, concerns the development of Management Plans for the designation of special management areas for sole complex, cockle and oyster fisheries management, for the purpose of community-based co-management, in the interest of conservation, management and sustainable utilisation of fisheries resources, in order to enhance artisanal fisheries and allocate property rights over fisheries resources. The Notice defines: principles for management of the fisheries, including: precautionary approach, traditional and local knowledge, adaptive management approach, ecosystem-based management approach; content of the Plan, including: overview description of the fishery, vessels and fishing areas, by-catch species, current status of the fish stocks, legal basis for management under this plan, management objectives and related measures to achieve those objectives and means for enforcement monitoring and evaluation of the plan; penalties and fines; development of oyster aquaculture.
The overall objectives defined are: to generate employment opportunities; to effect a rational and long term utilisation of the fisheries resources; to improve the nutritional status of the population; to generate revenue and foreign exchange earnings. Specific objectives concern: to improve quality of fish landed; to harvest cockle and oyster resources in a sustainable way; to decrease catch of a bycatch species; to increase safety at sea, compliance, capacity building among fishermen; to conserve the integrity and resilience of the aquatic ecosystem for continued productivity and sustained livelihoods for people.