Welcome to Through the Gaps, the UK fishing industry's most comprehensive information and image resource. Newlyn is England's largest fish market and where over 50 species are regularly landed from handline, trawl, net, ring net and pot vessels including #MSC Certified #Hake, #Cornish Sardine, handlined bass, pollack and mackerel. Art work, graphics and digital fishing industry images available from stock or on commission.
The fishing industry is blessed with people for whom fish is a passion - from those who catch to those who consume and many more in between - one of the inbetweeners is food blogger and writer Mike Warner, perhaps best known in the fish world by his Twitter handle @EastCoastAvocet and food blog of the same name - Mike spent the last seven days aboard the Newlyn based hake netter, Ajax getting to see gill netting for hake under the auspices of skipper Alan 'the hake man' Dwan and his young, dedicated crew......
as trips go things couldn't have gone better if they were planned - fine almost flat-calm weather, blue skies, handy to Newlyn (well 6 hours off) and free from big Spanish or French trawlers...
and just the pleasantries of Padstow man Sid...
aboard his hake netter, Karen of Ladram...
who took this shot of the Ajax as they were hauling - duly noting that the fishing was anything but slack ;-)...so with plenty of fish to boot - the boat put ashore a landing mid-tide for Friday's market then headed straight back out to sea again to pick up the gear left to 'soak' in the water...
and there's nothing like having the gear earn money while you're steaming in and out to land!..
heavy fishing meant that the fishroom was full once again...
unused griefometer tabs, a sure sign the trip went OK...
young Mr Perry practises some of his dance-floor moves while landing...
as Mike catches the action in readiness for the story of the trip...
in the kind of weather you tend to dream about as winter gales wear on during those darker, shorter days...
there's ice on them boxes - these days all the boats have refrigerated fishrooms to help keep the prime fish they catch in perfect condition...
in the market fridge it looks like the mackerel handline boys had a good weekend...
as one of the port's senior practitioners of the dark art of punt fishing steams through the sparkling harbour waters to make a landing...
perhaps with a wistful glance, Mike films the Ajax leaving - safe in the knowledge that his next piece for the blog will demonstrate just what effort and teamwork their is in putting prime fish like hake on the piscatorial tables of UK and EU restaurants and homes...
a measure of just how much the trip was appreciated...
the following morning on Monday's busy market, Mike completes the trips pictorial record with shots of the Ajax's fish being auctioned...
Professor Emeritus Doug Butterworth of the University of Cape Town in South Africa is one of the world’s most influential fisheries scientists. In this video, he speaks about the value of harvest strategies in fisheries management and why it is critical for tuna regional fisheries management organizations to implement these science-based management tools. *TRANSCRIPT* Doug Butterworth Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town On the Benefits of Harvest Strategies Q1: What are harvest strategies (i.e. management procedures)? Doug Butterworth: In essence, harvest strategies amount to agree the rules before you play the game. Essentially, they are just an elaboration of what became evident from the fairly disastrous collapses of the major pelagic fisheries in the '60s and '70s of the last century. Where the post-mortem examination said the problem really was, every time action needed to be taken, an argument would be found to say-- let's just put it off one more year in the hope things get better. What harvest strategies are doing, is they're saying no. You set up the rules first, and then you stick to the rules. Because if you don't have that situation, when you get into trouble, the action that’s taken is too little too late. Q2: What is management strategy evaluation (MSE)? Doug Butterworth: MSE stands for Management, Strategy, Evaluation. And in essence, what it is saying is-- use computer simulation testing to check out the rules you plan to apply to a fish stock before you actually go out there and apply them. In other words, make sure that they're going to work before you try them out. Q3: What are the advantages of harvest strategies? Doug Butterworth: The great advantage of management procedures is they specify beforehand what the rules will be for setting the TACs. So you don't get unnecessary debates and changes that make no effective benefit for the stock concerned. From the manager's' point of view then, the advantage is a quick and simple way of getting agreement on what the TAC recommendation is going to be. As far as the industry is concerned, it actually gives them greater security. Because they have an idea of what's going to happen, and then not live to suffer the vagaries of a debating process around what is the best assessment for this year. So in the longer run, we get better management of the resource. Q4: How are harvest strategies better at dealing with uncertainty? Doug Butterworth: A great advantage of management procedures is they provide a structured approach to deal with uncertainty that the conventional assessment procedure does not. And they look for what is called robustness. What it means is that, even if you got it wrong -- as regards, what is the resource doing, how does it behave – the formula you use to set the catches will still provide reasonable performance. That means it will still provide, not exactly, but fairly close to the level of catches you’d have expected. And more particularly, it will still secure you against levels of depletion of the resource that you want to avoid. Q5: What is the role of managers under harvest strategies? Doug Butterworth: There is the concern that harvest strategies tie the hands of managers. But I think, this is ill-placed because it fails to recognize that it is the managers who are choosing the harvest strategies in the first place. The responsibility of the scientists is to present a range of harvest strategies, and importantly, also the implications of each of those harvest strategies. What is critical, though, is the managers, having accepted the rules, must beprepared to stick by the rules as they play the game. Q6: How are harvest strategies expanding globally? Doug Butterworth: The progress has been slow. But slowly, one is seeing an expansion of these activities. If you go back 10, 15 years, perhaps, you had application in no more than one or two countries and one or two RFMOs. Now, that is expanding. It's particularly expanding in the tuna RFMOs, where originally, there was only the CCSBT, the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna, which led the way and put a management procedure in place some years back. But the other tuna RFMOs have accepted that they need to go the same way. And the implementation of at least some management procedures has either happened very recently, or is imminent.
This article from Jason Holland writing for SeafoodSource.com singles out key features of the likely drive to determine the future of the industry - great to see first and foremost a spirit of collaboration - and good part of that means the industry working with science and science working with the industry - read on:
"While the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union and the negotiation of a good severance package is the most immediate priority for the country’s seafood sector, a new vision will soon be laid out that is aimed at establishing a prosperous industry worth double its current value of GBP 6.2 billion (USD 8 billion, EUR 7.2 billion) within the next two decades.
Delivering the keynote presentation on the second day of the recent Shellfish Association of Great Britain (SAGB) 48th Annual Conference in London, Mike Mitchell, founder of the seafood consultancy business Fair Seas Ltd. and a member of the government-appointed Seafood Industry Expert Working Group, said that the 2040 Vision would help the country’s collective seafood economy see beyond the immediate horizon dominated by the “momentous” Brexit task, outlining strategies to help it reach its full potential.
“When faced with such a significant challenge, it’s difficult to have the luxury of a longer-term view, but it is important that we do, which is one of the reasons why we have continued to work on the 2040 Vision for the seafood industry – to help define and remind us of what good could look like if we act collaboratively toward shared and agreed objectives,” he said.
Mitchell has been part of the project for two years. It officially began with the establishment of a ministerial task force in October 2015 –predating the country’s Brexit referendum of June 2016 – to “explore the challenges and opportunities facing the English industry and shape a long-term ambition that can realize its potential.” This led to a consultation exercise across all sectors (November 2015) and a high level strategy that was submitted to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and published two months later. Then in May last year, Fisheries Minister George Eustice appointed a Seafood Industry Expert Group to progress the Seafood 2040 strategy.
The resultant 2040 action plan is built on three foundations: Collaboration; science and innovation; and working to best-practice, with the primary purpose to grow the demand by expanding markets and increasing consumption. A supporting aim on the supply side is to grow the resource availability to furnish that demand.
“Collaboration is essential,” Mitchell said. “The industry needs to work together to fully realize its potential; to ensure shared goals are agreed upon and a common strategy is pursued.”
As well as breaking down barriers to enable stakeholders to work closer together while helping increase consumption, having insight, expertise and robust science at the heart of all decision making will drive efficiency, profitability and innovation within the seafood industry, he said.
One way to help grow the market by a further GBP 6 billion (USD 7.7 billion, EUR 6.9 billion) is through the promotion of two seafood-based meals a week – a diet recommendation that is widely touted by numerous health agencies. Also, in addition to reinforcing the health and taste credentials of seafood, the industry should look to establish a more valued place for products in public procurement – such as in schools, hospitals, military commissaries, and other similar establishments, he said.
Another major growth prospect is through the promotion of “English” or “British” seafood as a brand, and to also use that regional or national provenance to drive a thriving export market – ramping up overseas value and volume. “There is a very big prize there if we make the most of that opportunity,” Mitchell said. “If we are going to dare to dream that we will double the market by 2040, we need to grow the resource. We need to maximize our wild-catch opportunities through good stewardship of the fisheries that we have and also grow a profitable English aquaculture sector. We also need to ensure that U.K. buyers are competitive in the international raw material marketplace, because even with a maximized wild catch and a flourishing aquaculture sector, there still wouldn’t be enough to meet that huge demand.”
Other ways to grow the resource include supporting business growth and driving innovation across the entire supply chain, particularly with regards to reducing waste and optimizing the use of resources through the development of high-value co-products. It is also essential to develop port system infrastructure and capacity, ensure a responsible supply chain and establish a skilled workforce, he said.
A finalized action plan is to be submitted to authorities this summer and published publicly. So far it has been a three-way contribution between DEFRA, the U.K. Seafish Authority and industry, but the Seafood Industry Expert Group believes it provides a unique opportunity for all stakeholders to engage and together grow a thriving seafood economy.
“Surely there is a benefit to this,” Mitchell said. “We do have two years of fighting ahead of us, but lets not lose sight of this longer term vision. It would be a real shame if this was published and then just left on the shelf.”
While the 2040 Vision is by no means the first battle plan or wish list to have been drawn up for the U.K. seafood industry’s future, Mitchell maintains that this one is different and can deliver where previous plans had failed by providing strategies to overcome the historical barriers that have prevented projects from getting off the ground or over the line, particularly at a political level where government changes or resistance have put the brakes on a number of highly regarded initiatives.
“I think where we have gone wrong in the past is there hasn’t been any kind of legacy. The vision was identified and that was basically it. There was no strategy to deliver it. The hope and what I will be trying to work towards is that as this initiative draws to a close (with the delivery of the plan), the legacy will be some operational changes to help deliver some of these strategies,” he said. “It is going to be a challenge, but hopefully some value will come out of this. If nothing else, to break down some of those barriers and create some new multi-stakeholder platforms with shared views could be where we make a difference.”
