ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of stakeholder participation in the EU. Because of the multinational environment of the EU, it illuminates the stakeholder-science links with the decision-making at the coastal states level. Fisheries science plays an important role in fishery management in the Northeast Atlantic, both for the decision-making between coastal states and for the decision-making in the EU. The two main mechanisms for fisheries science to deliver their outputs to the management system are via the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and via the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee on Fisheries (STECF). ICES host most of the expert groups that deal with stock assessment and management advice. STECF has a formal role in reviewing the ICES advice on behalf of the EC but also to specifically assess economic and technical implications of the advice. The chapter notes that both ICES and STECF have been used as suppliers of scientific advice on proposed management plans.
