Division Assessment of Bottom Fishing Activities

Assessments should consider the best available scientific and technical information on the current state of fishery resources.

Assessments should address, inter alia:

1. (1)

   Type(s) of fishing conducted or contemplated, including vessels and gear types, fishing areas, target and potential bycatch species, fishing effort levels and duration of fishing (harvesting plan);

2. (2)

   Existing baseline information on the ecosystems, habitats and communities in the fishing area, against which future changes are to be compared;

3. (3)

   Identification, description and mapping of VMEs known or likely to occur in the fishing area;

4. (4)

   Identification, description and evaluation of the occurrence, scale and duration of likely impacts, including cumulative impacts of activities covered by the assessment on VMEs;

5. (5)

   Consideration of VME elements known to occur in the fishing area;

6. (6)

   Data and methods used to identify, describe and assess the impacts of the activity, the identification of gaps in knowledge, and an evaluation of uncertainties in the information presented in the assessment;

7. (7)

   Risk assessment of likely impacts by the fishing operations to determine which impacts on VMEs are likely to be significant adverse impacts; and

8. (8)

   The proposed mitigation and management measures to be used to prevent significant adverse impacts on VMEs, and the measures to be used to monitor effects of the fishing operations.