The Common Fisheries Policy recognises as professional organisations some entities such as Producer Organisations, as an essential backbone of the CFP in order to strengthen the competitiveness and viability of Fishers and Fishing Cooperatives.

The European Regulation provides a new and essential role for managing the activities of fisheries and aquaculture to Producer Organisations, among others.

The Common Organisation of the Markets in fishery and aquaculture products (CMO) is an integral part of the Common Fisheries Policy and should contribute to achieve its objectives. Upon the CFP has been revised, the CMO should be adapted consequently.

Fishing Activity plays a particularly important role in the economies of the EU's coastal regions, including the outermost regions. Now the CFP provides fishers in those regions with their livelihood, steps should be taken to foster market stability and a closer correlation between supply and demand.

The provisions of the CMO should be implemented in compliance with the international commitments of the EU, in particular with regard to those under the provisions of the World Trade Organisation. When trading in fishery and aquaculture products with third countries, the conditions for fair competition should be ensured, in particular through respect for sustainability and the application of social standards equivalent to those which apply to Union products. It is important that the management of the CMO be guided by the principles of good governance of the CFP.

In order for the CMO to be a success, it is essential that consumers are informed, through marketing and educational campaigns, of the value of eating fish and the wide variety of species available, as well as of the importance of understanding the information contained on labels.

Fishery producer organisations and aquaculture producer organisations ("producer organisations") are the key to achieve the objectives of the CFP and of the CMO. It is therefore necessary to enhance their responsibilities and to provide the necessary support to allow them to play a more meaningful role in the day-to-day management of fisheries, whilst respecting the framework defined by objectives of the CFP. It is also necessary to ensure that their members carry out fishing and aquaculture activities in a sustainable manner, improve the placing on the market of products, collect information on aquaculture and improve their incomes.

When achieving those objectives, producer organisations should take into account the different conditions of the fishery and aquaculture sectors that prevail in the European Union, including in the outermost regions, and in particular the special characteristics of small-scale fisheries and extensive aquaculture. It should be possible for competent national authorities to take responsibility for the implementation of those objectives, working closely with producer organisations on management issues, including, where appropriate, the allocation of quotas and the management of fishing effort, depending on the needs of each particular fishery.

It is appropriate to lay down common conditions for the recognition of producer organisations for the extension of the rules adopted by producer organisations and inter-branch organisations, and for the costs resulting from such extension to be shared.

As fish stocks are shared resources, their sustainable and efficient exploitation can, in certain instances, be better achieved by organisations composed of members from different regions. Therefore, it is also necessary to encourage the possibility of setting up producer organisations and associations of producer organisations at national or transnational level based, where appropriate, on biogeographical regions. Such organisations should be partnerships that seek to lay down common and binding rules and to provide a level-playing field for all stakeholders that are engaged in the fishery. In setting up such organisations, it is necessary to ensure that they remain subject to the competition rules provided for in this Regulation and that the need to maintain the link between individual coastal communities and the fisheries and waters that they have historically exploited is respected.

This Twinning Project focuses on encouraging capacity building of officials of MoAF and Provincial Directorate but also this Twinning is targeted to members and representative of Fishery cooperatives of Turkey to adopt measures to increase the number of Fishery Producer Organisations.

In order to be able to steer their members towards sustainable fishery and aquaculture activities, producer organisations should prepare and submit to the competent authorities a production and marketing plan containing the measures necessary for them to fulfil their objectives.

The unpredictability of fishing activities makes it appropriate to set up a mechanism for storing fishery products for human consumption with a view to fostering greater market stability and increasing the return on products, in particular by creating added value. That mechanism should contribute to the stabilisation and convergence of local markets

In order to take account of the diversity of prices, each fishery producer organisation should be entitled to make a proposal for a price to trigger the storage mechanism as a way that fair competition between operators is maintained.

The establishment and application of common marketing standards should enable the market to be supplied with sustainable products and the full potential of the internal market in fishery and aquaculture products to be realised, and should facilitate marketing activities based on fair competition, helping to improve the profitability of production. This entity will permit the participation of women in aquaculture producer organisation and will provide a high level of protection of human health, fishery and aquaculture products placed on the Union market, regardless of their origin, that should comply with applicable rules on food safety and hygiene.

It is necessary for consumers to provide them a clear and comprehensive information on, inter alia, the origin and the method of production of the products.

The use of an eco-label for fishery and aquaculture products offers the possibility of providing clear information on the ecological sustainability of such products will generate a big advantage.

It will be necessary to improve the gathering, processing and disseminating of economic information on the markets in fishery and aquaculture products in the Union.

The Producer Organisations are recognised bodies in charge of the day-to-day management of fisheries and play an essential role in running the Common Fisheries Policy and the Common Organisation of the Markets as they:

• guide producers towards sustainable fishing and aquaculture, collectively managing the activities of their members
• help match supplies with market demands, and
• support in creating added value.

In the European Union there are more than 200 producer organisations. To achieve the objectives of the Common Organisation of the markets, these professional organisations may take measures to channel the supply and marketing of their members’ products, promote them through certification schemes, quality seals, geographical designations, etc.

The challenge is to implement a clear proposal for sharing the Spain’s knowledge on and experience with Fishery Producer Organisations. There are different types of POs and Fisheries POs are a specific model of Producer Organisations which require knowledge on the fishery and aquaculture sector.

There is at present a large regulation of the fishery associations, like the Producer’s Union Law or the Cooperatives Law. In general, the fisheries sector is organised around these two stakeholders: producers union (low number) and cooperatives (most cases).

In order to improve the present situation, it will be necessary to energise some primary cooperatives that are currently not so active. The insight of its members is that some cooperatives are not working well or that they are not useful, that the Minister may consider them as an administrative burden, or that they are too small to correctly apply the CMO’s measurement, too.

The new role of these cooperatives will require a solid structure to increase the hygienic requirements, the traceability and the consumer guaranties. That will not be achieved without professional management and, above all, without a new cooperative’s legislation, these represent the core issues to be tackled.

Nevertheless, the greater challenge will be to promote the transformation of cooperatives into producer’s organisations and the correct adaptation of an adequate number of them. Currently, there are about 500 cooperatives, which is a big figure considering the existing 300 drop-off points.