40. The following items were considered by the Sub-Commission during the last intersessional period:
41. The Working Party on COPLAKE met in Aarhus on 26 May 1984 to review progress in its various activities (see Appendix G).
42. The report on inland fisheries institutions and workers will be finalized in the coming intersessional period and published in the EIFAC Occasional Papers series.
43. The future programme of COPLAKE was discussed and population dynamics with special reference to recruitment of freshwater fish species and crayfish was mentioned as a possible item for a workshop to be held in the future.
44. The Working Party, established in Budapest in 1982, has almost completed collection of existing European literature on selectivity of inland water fishing gear. The number of references was unexpectedly high, partly due to numerous publications in other than the official EIFAC languages. It was recommended that
the available literature in the form of short abstracts be published as an EIFAC Occasional Paper
the evaluation of the binational experiments on the selectivity of graded fleets for roach be continued and a final report be prepared for the next session of EIFAC
an ad hoc group of the Working Party be formed with the aim to set up a detailed programme for a multinational exercise aiming at the development of a non-selective standardized gillnet set for the assessment of coregonids, and to hold such an exercise.
45. The Working Party also suggested a tentative theme for a symposium to be held in conjunction with the fifteenth session of EIFAC in 1988, namely to deal with the state and prospects of inland fisheries of EIFAC countries with special reference to commercial fisheries. The Sun-Commission agreed to take the theme in consideration, but the final decision should not be made before the fourteenth session of EIFAC because there might also appear more relevant topics during the next intersessional period.
46. The report of the Working Party on Crayfish held in Rome in April 1984 (EIFAC/XIII/84 /7) and the report of the Fifth meeting held in Aarhus in May 1984 (Appendix I) have been submitted to the Sub-Commission. The finalization of reports on the status of crayfish stocks and fisheries in Europe, and on institutes, research workers and programmes is expected before the end of 1984. They will be published as EIFAC Technical Paper and EIFAC Occasional Paper respectively. This will complete the first task set out as high priority during the eleventh session of EIFAC held in Stavanger in 1980 and the documents will give a good basis for planning the future work of the Working Party.
47. Collection of information for bibliographies of crayfish in Europe has continued. Editing of bibliographies already available from nine countries will be started.
48. During the meeting of the Sub-Commission on 28 May 1984 future activities of the Working Party were discussed. It was recommended that a detailed programme for future activities of the Working Party on Crayfish be prepared for the next session.
49. The Sub-Commission suggested that the proposed Working Party on Introductions and Sub-Commission II should also pay attention to crayfish.
50. The Sub-Commission discussed the reports of the Working Parties on Eel held in Salzburg (Austria) in September 1982 and in Drottningholm (Sweden) in September 1983 (EIFAC/XIII/84/5 and 6). During the over ten years of its existence this Working Party has contributed substantially to the enhancement of the knowledge on eel during the time of increasing constraints imposed on that fishery. It was recommended that for the next session the Working Party on Eel (Biology and Management) prepares new terms of reference and also considers the organization of its work.
51. With the retirement of Mr McGrath (Ireland) the Working Party proposed as new Chairman Dr F.W. Tesch from the Federal Republic of Germany. The proposal was endorsed by the Sub-Commission.
52. The results of the enquiry on present research and needs for international cooperation (EIFAC/XIII/84/8) were discussed briefly by the Working Party (Appendix J). Due to poor response to the enquiry, it was decided to limit activities of the Working Party to those aspects which are of direct importance for management of fish stocks such as catch levels and wishes and preferences of users. Four persons have volunteered to start such an inventory.
53. The Steering Committee of the EIFAC Intercalibration Exercise on Fish Sampling Methods in lakes met in March 1984 in Hamburg (EIFAC/XIII/84/9). The Lake Constance experiment as a follow-up to a hydro-acoustic experiment on Lake Konnevesi, is considered successful. A draft report of the experiment was finalized during another meeting of the Steering Committee in Aarhus and it was recommended that the report be published in the EIFAC Occasional Papers series.
54. A new experiment comparing different echosounding systems is under discussion and, if agreed upon, shall be carried out in late 1985 in the Federal Republic of Germany.
55. The Working Party which met in Aarhus on 26 May 1984 (Appendix K) discussed future activities and decided to continue its current activities, giving a high priority to the preparation of an atlas of scales and other bony structures. Collection of ageing material already available in different countries should be used in the preparation of this atlas. A convenor for this activity is still to be identified.
56. The Working Party on Stock Enhancement met in Hamburg in May 1983 and prepared the second draft of Code of Practice for the regulation of the introduction of exotic species as recommended in Budapest in 1982. The report from the Hamburg meeting (EIFAC/XIII/84/2) was discussed in Aarhus on 26 May 1984.
57. To fulfill the second recommendation of the Budapest Symposium “to review the present status of stocking and to elaborate guidelines” an ad hoc Working Party on Stocking convened by Mr M. Grimm, met for the first time during the session in Aarhus in 1984 to consider the topic. The discussions stressed the need for more intensive studies and it was recommended that a Working Party on Stocking would be set up.
58. A Synopsis on pike prepared by Mr A.J.P. Raat is available in a draft form in a limited number of copies. The synopsis will be finalized during the coming intersessional period. It has not yet been decided in which form it is to be published. The work on eel synopsis continued.
59. The Session agreed that EIFAC should encourage the preparation of other synopses on, i.e. Salmo gairdneri, Silurus glanis, Tinca tinca.
60. The Sub-Commission was also informed that an expert group of the Swedish Ministry of Agriculture had prepared a report on acidification. This report well fulfills the request of the twelfth session of EIFAC on this subject.
61. The following persons were elected:
B. Steinmetz (The Netherlands), Chairman
K. Westman (Finland), Vice-Chairman
M. Bninska (Poland), Rapporteur
62. The delegations expressed their sincere gratitude to the officers of Sub-Commission I, Dr P. Tuunainen and Dr D. Stephanou who had served for the two previous intersessional periods.
