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| Newlyn fishermen fill the nation's plates but how are they doing? |
Skippers in Newlyn are being asked to help build a picture of how decisions made at Whitehall and in Europe affect real fishermen and their families next week.
Sea fishing representative organisation Seafish wants vessel owners and skippers in Brixham, Newlyn, Poole and Ilfracombe to participate in its annual economic survey of the UK fishing fleet. Researchers will be at the ports from August 4-8 to collect data on fishing and vessel costs in order to build an up-to-date picture of the UK fleet’s economic performance.
Tom Pickerell, technical director at Seafish, said: “Thanks to the participation of several hundred vessel owners, the economics team at Seafish has been able to accurately represent the economic performance of the UK fishing fleet for a number of years,” “Only with the continued support of the industry around Devon, Cornwall and Dorset can we continue this hugely valuable exercise, producing outputs that allow us to better understand the industry as a whole and to inform key decision makers. “Therefore, we would encourage skippers and boat owners to speak to our surveyors and complete the survey so that we can present the most accurate picture possible.”
The results, to be published in 2015, are intended to help industry and policy makers better understand the socio-economic consequences of changes in fisheries management measures and the wider financial climate. This year the data will also help to assess the economic implications of the forthcoming landings obligation. All vessel owners can benefit directly from participation by requesting a free financial performance benchmark report which allows performance comparisons with the average performance of other similar vessels.
Participants will also be entered into a £250 prize draw.
The survey is supported by the national federations and local associations around the UK and this year there will be an added focus on the impact of new landings obligations. All information provided is treated as confidential and no individual vessel figures will be revealed in any report.
Anybody interested in taking part in the survey should contact Steve Lawrence at Seafish on 0131 524 8663 or email steven.lawrence@seafish.co.uk. The results of last year’s report can be found on the Seafish website.
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