This was a superb conference delivered by Jeremy Prince for championing the collection and use of data collected by the people best placed to provide such data - the fishermen who actually do the job full time.
Research vessels with on-board scientists collecting data according to long term projects have their place but the very best data is that collected during everyday fishing by the industry itself - this conference sought to discuss ways in which this huge bank of knowledge can be validated and used to inform scientific research and strategic fisheries planning for the future.
Following the talk questions were taken from the floor - many extremely relevant to both inshore and offshore fishing sectors in the UK.
