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|  The high attention given to fisheries by the international media will keep a high level the pressure on management authorities to improve the situation. The rapid increase in awareness about the role of access rights and of the experience and competence in implementing them and the likely further development of ecolabelling are positive factors in the quest for a more sustainable contribution of fisheries to human sustainable development. However, the opportunities resulting from globalization and increasing trade also increase the risk to sustainability wherever management capacity is generally insufficient and, especially, in the developing world. Faster progress should therefore be expected in the developed world, where transition costs might be bearable and capacity sufficient. However, surprises may come out of the developing world where, sometimes, the capacity to change may be higher.Technology transfer is a process or system under which various interrelated components of technology - hardware (materials), software (technique, know-how, information), human ability, organizational and management aspects and the final product (including marketing) - are rendered accessible to the end-user. It must also include the institutional capacity for technology adoption, adaptation or rejection. Thus, technology transfer has both functional and institutional significance. A technology transfer programme is effective when there is minimal or no gap between the potential and realized impacts of the technology, meaning that monitoring the adoption or adaptation of technologies is an integral component. Transfer of technology must therefore be preceded and succeeded by technology assessment, reasserting that the transfer and assessment are complementary processes. | | | | Fishery technology consists of the equipment and practices used for finding, harvesting, handling, processing and distributing aquatic resources and their products. Different fishery technologies obviously have different effects on the ecosystem, the social structure of fishing communities, the safety of fishery workers and the ease, effectiveness and efficiency of management of the fishery. It is the amount and context in which fishery technology is used (e.g. when, where and by whom) that influence whether the objectives of fisheries management are reached - and not the technology. For instance, the current overfishing of many aquatic resources is the product of both the efficiency of the finding and catching technologies as well as the amount used. Similarly, building a fishmeal plant might involuntarily result in severe changes in the way the fishery is exploited, and in the community's social structure. | | | | Fishery technology is constantly evolving and its efficiency in catching fish will increase over time. For example, a 4% annual gain in efficiency would cause a doubling of the fishing mortality rate in 18 years if the fishing effort remained constant. A precautionary approach to management should take such increases into account and should be adopted for the development of new technologies or the transfer of existing technologies to other fisheries to avoid unplanned abrupt changes in fishing pressure or social structures. Certain technologies will be considered undesirable if they create unacceptable effects (e.g. poison or explosives) or if their adoption leads to wasteful use (e.g. sorting machines have been banned at sea where they might increase discarding). | | | | Each fishery technology has advantages and disadvantages that should be balanced in a precautionary approach, and it may be better to have a combination of technologies. When new fishery technology is introduced, it should be carefully evaluated to assess its potential direct and indirect effects. If a mix of fishery technology representing "best current practice" in an area can be identified, precautionary management would encourage its adoption while it would discourage damaging ones. Responsible fishery technology achieves the specific fishery management objectives with minimal damaging side effects. These concepts (of responsible fishing and best current practices) were addressed by the UN General Assembly and in the Cancun Declaration. | | | | The precautionary approach | | | | A precautionary approach to develop and select responsible technologies for fishing requires an appropriate understanding of the consequences in their adoption and use. These consequences, particularly the impacts on non-target species and ecosystems, may be highly uncertain. Nevertheless, some information exists and more can be obtained. The problem of evaluating impacts is relevant both to the use of existing technologies and to the development of new ones, as well as to the introduction of existing technologies to new areas. The description of a given technology would state its relative impacts and advantages for a given species in a specific environment. Target fishery, environmental and ecosystem, socio-economic and legal factors should be considered when evaluating the potential impacts of the transfer of fishery technologies. | | | | The factors to examine when evaluating the impacts of fishery technology include: | | | | target-fishery factors such as selectivity by size and species (e.g. target, non-target, and protected species), discards, survival of escapees, "ghost fishing"; | | | | environmental and ecosystem factors such as bio-diversity, habitat degradation, contamination and pollution, generation of debris and rubbish disposal, direct mortality, predator-prey relationships; | | | | socio-economic factors such as safety and occupational hazards, training requirements,user conflicts, economic performance, employment, monitoring and enforcement requirements and costs; | | | | techno-economic factors (i.e. infrastructure and service requirements, cost and technological accessibility, product quality, and energy efficiency); | | | | One of the prerequisites for effective technology transfer is the appropriateness of the technology - that is, a package that is technically feasible, economically viable, socially acceptable, environment-friendly, consistent with household endowments and relevant to users' needs. This is a dynamic concept whose elements will be subject to adjustment, change and evolution. | | | | legal factors such as existing legislation, need for new legislation,international agreements, and civil liberties. These could be used to identify beneficial new technologies or damaging ones, to assess the ability of a fishery to accommodate increased use of an established technology and to help direct monitoring and special reporting procedures towards important questions. | | | | Technologies for aids to navigation, fish-locating devices, processing and distribution could also be described and evaluated using the above criteria. This would require a suitable description of technologies, cross-referenced against a range of possible impacts. Other elements relevant to the specific technology/area evaluated would also be included.Developing technology transfer | | | | Technology transfer projects in the small-scale sector have, by and large, failed to realize their objectives. Conventional strategies have seen development primarily as a series of technical transfers aimed at boosting production and generating wealth. In practice, conventional projects usually target medium- to large-scale "progressive" producers, supporting them with technology, credit and extension advice in the hope that improvements will gradually extend to more "backward" strata of rural society. In many cases, however, the channelling of development assistance to the better off has led to concentration of capital and the marginalization of small-scale fishers.A recent evaluation found that half of rural development projects funded by the World Bank in Africa were outright failures. A review of assistance to agricultural cooperatives reported similar results. A study by the International Labour Organization of "poverty-oriented" projects worldwide showed that the poorest were excluded from activities and benefits.The basic fault in the conventional approach is that the rural poor are rarely consulted in development planning and usually have no active role in development activities. This is because the vast majority of the poor have no organizational structure to represent their interests. Isolated, undereducated and often dependent on the rural elite, they lack the means to win greater access to resources and markets, and to prevent the imposition of unworkable programmes or technologies. | | | | In more highly developed "fishing" nations, generations of fishers have evolved suitable technologies for increasing production and storing the catch on boats, for landing it and for dockside sorting, processing and storage. Others have created proper processing and marketing/distribution of fishery products as food or feed. Thus there is no lack of workable production, post-harvest and processing technologies at any scale of operation. The problem is rather that most of the available technologies fit a particular fishing situation and market and are therefore not readily transferable to the often very different circumstances found in most developing countries.Effective technology transfer | | | | Technology transfer within the context of fisheries development normally refers to the transfer of an established and proven technology from a developed to a developing country, resulting in enhanced fish production, utilization or trade . Such transfers may be identified, initiated and/or implemented by administrations, aid agencies, foreign or local commercial entities, trade and community groups, entrepreneurs whose objective is enhanced corporate or individual profit, improved food security or a general improvement in the well-being and socio-economic situation of fishing communities. | | | | Recognizing that many aquatic resources are overfished and that the fishing capacity presently available jeopardizes their conservation and rational use, technological changes or transfers aimed solely at further increasing fishing capacity would not generally be seen as desirable. Instead, a precautionary approach to technological changes would aim at: | | | | improving the conservation and long-term sustainability of living aquatic resources; | | | | preventing irreversible or unacceptable damage to the environment; | | | | improving the social and economic benefits derived from fishing, and improving the safety and working conditions of fishery workers. | | | | Fishery technology | | | | |
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