Background

The European Bureau for Conservation and Development, (EBCD), since its establishment in 1989, has had a special focus on marine issues, especially fisheries, within its main objective to promote the principle of sustainable development and sustainable use of natural resources. EBCD’s innovative approach for 20 years has been to monitor the integration between fisheries issues and environmental ones and to link policy makers with stakeholders.

EU level

At the EU level, EBCD has been working closely with the European institutions, especially the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries, in following the political and legislative developments both of the EU Common Fisheries Policy including the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) and related policies.
EBCD is an active member of the Advisory Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture of the EU (ACFA) – link to this activity – and of several Advisory Councils (ACs): the Long Distance Fleet AC, the North Western Water AC, the North Sea AC and the Pelagic AC. Within these frameworks EBCD participates in advising activities to the European Commission with other stakeholders.

International level

At the international level EBCD has been actively participating in the works of relevant international conventions and frameworks dealing with the marine environment and its resources: the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), the Convention on Biological Diversity CBD, the FAO and its sub-Committees (the Committee on Fisheries – COFI – the one on aquaculture and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM); and various Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) particularly – the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) – the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAF), the North West Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO), the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCMLAR)
It goes without saying that EBCD follows the developments and the activities of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement UNFSA, and the UNEP Regional Sea Programme.

An active member of IUCN since its establishment, EBCD works closely with its network of experts, Commissions and Programmes focusing on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity. EBCD provides the coordination of the IUCN/CEM/Fisheries Experts Group (FEG). EBCD has been a partner in several projects lead by IUCN mainly on aquaculture and on Governance in the Mediterranean.