Who are we ?

SWWAC

South West Waters Advisory Council
(SWWAC, S for South, ex SWW RAC)

The SWWAC brings together all actors who have an interest in Fisheries Management to put forward opinions to the European Commission and the Member States on the management of the fisheries in the South Atlantic. The SWWAC is one of the seven Advisory Councils established by the will of European Institutions to encourage the participation of all stakeholders with a view to achieving sustainable fishing objectives laid down by the Common Fisheries Policy.



Created in April 2007 in accordance with the decision of the Council on 19 July 2004 to set up the Regional Advisory Councils (RAC). The creation of these RACs is one of the lynchpins of the 2002 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. Their goal is to allow greater participation of the of the Fishing sector in the management of the marine resources of the European waters.
Our tasks :
The purpose of the SWWAC is to help achieve the sustainable fishing objectives set by the Common Fisheries Policy, integrating the ecosystemic approach and based on the precautionary principle.
SWWAC must therefore :
  • Give opinions arising from agreements between the Fishing sector and civil society to the European Commission and the Member States.
  • Reply to the different consultations (communications, proposed Regulations), organised by the European Commission.

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SWWAC covers the Atlantic zone running from the tip of Brittany in the North, to the Strait of Gibraltar in the south and including the outermost regions of Madeira, the Azores and the Canary Islands (zones ICES VIII, IX and X, and the COPACE divisions 34.1.1., 34.1.2, 34.2.0).

 

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Our members

The SWWAC includes :

- 60% of the representatives of the fishing sector (fishermen, shipowners, producers' organisations, processors, wholesale fishmongers and market organisations) in five Member States (Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands).

- 40% of the members of the civil society (aquaculture, consumer associations, environmental associations, seaman's wives associations, non-professional fishing associations, etc.).

 

SWWAC must allow all its members, over the whole of a very large fishing zone, to work together and find agreement. In parallel, it is consulted and must fulfil its role as an interlocutor in the new stage of the decision-making process in the Common Fisheries Policy, and in the new governance of the fishing sector.

SWWAC gives precedence to collective working and to achieving a consensus of all the interests within its members.

 

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