24. The Working Party on COPLAKE met on 2 June 1982 to review progress in its various activities (see Appendix E).
25. The collection of data on inland fisheries institutions and workers in Europe should be completed by the end of August 1982 and the Directory will then be published in the EIFAC Occasional Paper series. The completed paper should be sent to all countries, and in particular those which have not yet replied, to solicit further responses.
26. COPLAKE collaborated in the second phase of the Lake Konnevesi experiment and will participate in the activities on Bodensee.
27. From the eighth session of EIFAC (Aviemore, Scotland, 1974) and the eleventh session (Stavanger, Norway, 1980), it was apparent that, although most countries of EIFAC sample with selective gear, the selectivity of such gear is rarely systematically analysed. It was therefore recommended (Recommendation EIFAC 82/1) that a working party on fishing gear selectivity should be set up within the general framework of COPLAKE to:
compile and keep under review the European literature on gear selectivity, and
organize and coordinate, as appropriate, international exercises for the definition of the selectivity of gear used in sampling and for commercial purposes.
28. The programme also proposed to keep under review the problem caused by acid rain and to maintain contact with interested workers in North America. Norway and Sweden were requested to prepare a short report on the topic and on efforts for its mitigation.
29. The third meeting of the Working Party on Crayfish took place in Budapest on 2 June 1982 (see Appendix F).
30. The draft report on the status of crayfish stocks and fisheries in Europe was presented to the session (EIFAC/XII/82/Inf.4). This draft will be further circulated to solicit additional contributions and should eventually be published as a technical paper of EIFAC.
31. The draft report on institutes, research workers and programmes relating to research on crayfish was presented to the session in document EIFAC/XII/82/Inf.5. This document is still not complete but will be published as an EIFAC Occasional Paper after the inclusion of further information.
32. Little progress has been made in the preparation of a bibliography on crayfish in Europe and this remains a priority for action in the coming intersession.
33. In view of the considerable expansion of interest and activity in aquaculture for crayfish in Europe, Sub-Commission I requested Sub-Commission II to consider establishing a parallel working party to work in collaboration with its own Working Party on aspects of aquaculture of this species.
34. The report of the Working Party on Eel held in Ferrara, Italy, September 1981, was submitted to the Sub-Commission (EIFAC/XII/82/6).
35. The Working Party had considered the possibility that commercial interests might propose, in the future, to introduce exotic eel species and requested the Working Party on Stock Enhancement to keep this matter under review. It was also observed that the danger of contamination of eel with salmonid diseases such as IPN was growing. Sub-Commission II was, therefore, requested to investigate further this matter.
36. It was also noted by the Working Party that the growth of aquaculture for eels is tending to make it impossible for the Working Party to consider this topic within the original membership and the indications were that eventually the Sub-Commission II would have to consider the setting up of a working party on eel aquaculture.
37. The report of the Technical Consultation was published in 1981 and the proceedings should probably be published in July 1982. There has been a disappointing response to the request for country reports on progress. The Symposium held in conjunction with the twelfth session of EIFAC considered matters of concern to the Consultation and the Symposium to be held in conjunction with the thirteenth session will further explore and fulfill certain of the recommendations of the Consultation. Both symposia were proposed by EIFAC to continue the work of certain sectors of the Consultation.
38. A Working Party meeting held on 4 June 1982 (see Appendix G) proposed that an enquiry on human aspects of recreational fisheries prepared by the Netherlands and Poland be circulated by the Secretariat early next year. On the basis of the results to the questionnaire, the Working Party should hold a further meeting prior to the next session.
39. An intercalibration exercise was held on Lake Konnevesi and a report on the experiment, EIFAC Occasional Paper No. 14, is in press.
40. Subject to funding, a further series of experiments will be held in Lake Constance concentrating on hydroacoustic methods (see Appendix H).
41. EIFAC requested the delegate from Norway to do his best to ensure the continuation of funding for Dr Lindem, the hydroacoustic expert, in order that he might make his expertise available to EIFAC for this exercise.
42. Synopses on pike and eel should be finalized during the intersessional period and should be available in printed form by the next session. Bream and roach were identified as appropriate subjects for future synopses.
43. As a follow-up to a preliminary study of ageing of bream set up by Mr Steinmetz, Dr Mann of the British Freshwater Association volunteered to organize a large ageing exercise on rudd (scales and finrays) of known age of Dutch origin. This material will be circulated among institutes in seven EIFAC member countries. The report can be expected for the next session, as well as a number of Polish ageing studies on freshwater fish species of known age.
44. The proposal made in document EIFAC/XII/82/8 that rigid terms of reference for the Sub-Commission may be less applicable than a “sphere of interest” or “field of activity” was approved and the Sub-Commission was prepared to accept such changes as will be proposed by Sub-Commission III as provided in the document.
45. The Sub-Commission adopted the reports of its component fields of activities (documents EIFAC/XII/82/3 to EIFAC/XII/82/8).
46. Future activities are included in the ongoing programme of the various working parties as detailed in the individual reports. In addition, the Sub-Commission will contribute extensively to the Symposium on Habitat Modification proposed for the thirteenth session of EIFAC and to the new Working Party on Stock Enhancement.
47. The existing bureau, consisting of:
P. Tuunainen (Finland), Chairman
B. Steinmetz (The Netherlands), Vice-Chairman
D. Stephanou (Cyprus), Rapporteur
was re-elected.
