MSP following the approach of MSFD is more likely to be used as a preventive strategy to conserve ecosystem http://www.selleckchem.com/products/MLN8237.html health, often in countries that do not have large maritime industries [41]. NGOs have recently argued that the ‘Blue

Growth’ strategy that implements the IMP should be consistent with the requirements of the MSFD and thereby be ecosystem-based [42]. Underlining the issue of potential tensions between the MSFD and IMP is that they fall under the responsibility of different Commission departments: Directorate-General Environment (DG Environment) oversees the implementation of the MSFD, whilst Directorate-General Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) oversees the implementation of the IMP, along with the CFP. MSP-related initiatives commissioned under the two bodies seem to have little connection with each other, leading to confusions

regarding the strategic direction(s) for MSP in Europe [41]. As it stands, DG MARE and DG Environment receive scientific advice from different advisory bodies, creating barriers in terms of information flow and shared decision-making [43]. The potentially contrasting approaches to MSP, as prescribed in the IMP and the MSFD combined with disconnections between the two main Commission bodies responsible for marine management, are likely selleck screening library to be key issues in the development of a more coherent policy landscape for MSP in Europe. The lack of restrictions under the CFP to protect marine Natura 2000 sites is a stark illustration of the legal and political difficulties of improving the link between EU fisheries regulations and environmental legislation. In a recent Council meeting, Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanski gave a speech which included the withdrawal of a proposal for an automatic 25% cut in total allowable catches for stocks with insufficient data for assessment, which was intended to implement the precautionary approach,

proposing instead that such precautionary cuts be decided on a case by case basis. Concerns about a proposed ban on all discards are also being raised by both the Parliament and the Council, members of which have argued for a more cautious and flexible approach on a fishery Tacrolimus (FK506) by fishery basis, instead of the overambitious, strictly timetabled, species by species basis proposed by the Commission [44]. This shows that as the legislative proposals go through the co-decision process, compromises will have to be made. It will also be interesting to see if the new co-decision procedure will make a difference in this round of reform of the CFP, one certainty being that the passage of the new CFP regulations will become a lengthy and complicated process. Previously, government ministers, under significant lobbying pressure from industries, have dominated negotiations for the CFP and other new legislations through the Council.