Merel den Held

The Pelagic AC engages with a wide range of stakeholders to offer credible, scientific, and consensus-based advice to the European Commission and relevant EU Member States on the management of pelagic fisheries. Our work covers pelagic stocks across all European sea-basins, excluding those in the Baltic Sea and Mediterranean Sea. We are one of the 11 Advisory Councils for fisheries in the European Union, established following the 2002 review of the Common Fisheries Policy, which provide a means of safeguarding the ongoing involvement of stakeholders in the development of fisheries policy.   The Pelagic AC was inaugurated in August 2005, and is made up of a General Assembly, an Executive Committee and two Working Groups. These bodies function as forums for consultation and the drafting of stakeholder-led advice which, in turn, informs pelagic fisheries policy at the EU level.