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Sunday 3 August 2014

Seafish three-week Introduction to Commercial Fishing course - places still available!

The Seafish three-week Introduction to Commercial Fishing course is for new entrants to the fishing industry. The course consists of two weeks shore-based training (covering safety, gear and catch handling, net mending, rope work and navigation) and one week of mandatory safety courses (Sea Survival, Fire Fighting, First Aid, Health and Safety) and the Seafish Basic Fishing Vessel Stability course.

Immediately following this course students can look for berths on suitable fishing vessels so that they can go to sea and put their new-found knowledge into practice and gain practical experience of fishing.

This induction course will suit both youngsters looking for a career at sea in the fishing industry and older candidates who are looking for a career change and interested in commercial fishing as an occupation.

Cost: Free (Subject to eligibility)

Course Aim and Objectives

The aim of this three week course is to provide new entrants with the basic skills to begin working at sea in a safe and useful manner. More specifically the course objectives are:

• To reduce accidents amongst new entrants and better prepare them for work at sea.

• Give a better understanding of operational practices in every day fishing operations, including mechanical handling (such as winches), to create a safer workplace.

• To equip new entrants with the basic skills needed to enable them to positively contribute to the daily work routines and tasks associated with working as part of a team on the deck of a fishing vessel.

Course Content:

This course is essentially a collection of short courses and comprises of the units listed below.

Introduction and Overview of the Course On Board Procedures Introduction to Ropes, Knots and Fishing Gear Net mending and Gear construction Watch Keeping and Navigation Basic Engineering Intermediate Knots and Splicing Boat Handling Basic Care of the Catch Intro Food Hygiene in the Seafood Industry Basic Sea Survival Basic Health & Safety Basic First Aid Basic Fire Fighting Basic Fishing Vessel Stability

Course are planned well in advance so please contact us if you would like to take part in the next course. We tend to run one 3 week course every 3/4 months.

More information on starting a career in the fishing industry can be found here via the Seafish website Fishing as a Career

Newlyn skippers asked how fishing rules affect Cornish fleets... and families

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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