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 grey gurnard, distinctly lacking in the colour of their near relative...
the red gurnard...
and consistently smaller, only the biggest are served up as filets of whole fish. More often than not, a few of these less trendy members of the gurnard family end up in fish stews.
Traditionally, the trawl fleet in Newlyn kept these aboard the boat until the end of a trip when they would be sold for stocker to the local crab boats in the port for bait - and fine bait they make too! In the days when a handful of inshore trawlers worked the grounds NW of the Wolf or the Sevenstones, many tons of small gurnard were landed - all destined to end up between two sticks inside a crab pot!
These days they are far more saleable as their sweet and full flavour has become more widely known in the UK - before that any gurnards sold to be eaten went straight across the channel to all-knowing French consumer!
If you have never tried before, have a go at a fish stew and make sure there are gurnards in there - not forgetting some suitable bread to go mopping up the dish as you go. Who better to help you deliver the finest of fish dishes, none other than Mr Gastronomy, that piquant piscatorial, Mr Keith Floyd! If you decide to watch the programme from his much acclaimed first TV series, Floyd on Fish - the series that sparked an entirley new genre of TV chefs you can sit back and enjoy his time spent at the fish auction in Newlyn, 1980s style!
A hollow victory given that many species are running under 50% but a victory for common sense nonetheless!
MMO/Defra news:
Defra and the MMO have decided to temporarily remove the quota cap which was placed on 440 under-10m vessels with effect from 1st March 2023 for the remainder of the 2023 Fishing Year. Defra intend to have made a final policy decision in respect of the cap before the start of the 2024 Fishing Year. The cap restricted the total amount of quota species that could be landed in a year to 350kg. The cap was put in place to remove latent capacity in the fleet.
Additional quota derived from leaving the EU and an increasing need for the under-10m fleet to diversify enabled the temporary removal of the cap on a trial basis during 2020, 2021 and 2022 fishing years. Following a review of these trials Defra and the MMO have decided to temporarily remove the cap for the remainder of 2023.
The APPG “Fishing in the Data Age” event on 21 February 2023, heard from a variety of speakers on the data collaborations underway involving the fishing industry, and the challenges and opportunities in ensuring effective and fair collection and use of fishing data.
Attendees heard from:
Peter Clark - Operations Director - Marine Management Organisation (MMO)
Tom Catchpole - Principal Fisheries Scientist - Cefas
Steve Mackinson - Chief Scientific Officer - Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association (SPFA)
John Reidar Mathiassen - Senior Research Scientist - Fisheries and New Biomarine Industry (SINTEF)
A full recording of the online event can be found here:
Following the presentations, attendees put their questions to the panel.
Written summaries of all questions and answers are provided below. Please note that these answers reflect the views of the panelists, rather than the APPG Secretariat or its Members.
Have we asked what data we need, and do we have the people who can process that data usefully to yield management advice?
Catchpole said that Cefas has well-established data monitoring programmes which have been designed over years to deliver evidence needed to drive current fisheries management processes, and that prioritisation has been undertaken to establish key data needs for the new Fisheries Management Plans. He said that Cefas has excellent data analysts, and with the skills needed becoming more specialised over time, the agency is always recruiting for these. Catchpole added that working closely with universities, which can be better placed to stay at the forefront of fast-moving technologies, is key for Cefas. He used the example of the University of East Anglia, which has an excellent team working on image analysis using AI.
Balestri said that, at least in the case of Scotland, it is increasingly difficult to find the funding and skilled people to maintain and indeed enhance fisheries research and monitoring; this is in contrast to faster-growing industries such as offshore renewables. She commented that research and monitoring should be more ambitious, which requires enhancing communication between policymakers, scientists, fishers and other stakeholders to help to ensure that the right data is collected.
Many existing data collection programmes focus on larger fishing boats with trained crew. What provision is there for under-10 metre boats without the capacity to measure fish or carry out other data collection?
As an addendum to this question, Sherryll Murray MP asked:
Experienced fishers can make accurate estimations of the grading and weight of their catch. Could this be taken into account with smaller boats which can’t take on the equipment needed for taking measurements?
Peter Clark said that the MMO aims to take the practicalities of different fishing operations into account when designing its programmes. He used the example of the Catch App, which allows for experienced skippers to estimate rather than weigh their catches. In response to Sheryll Murray’s question specifically, he said that in some cases the MMO asks skippers for self-declarations, which are validated afterwards to account for practicalities such as the loss of weight as the catches dry out; where self-declarations are used, the MMO would only ask for additional information where any anomalous data arose. Clark acknowledged that the English fleet has a comparatively large proportion of small vessels, so it is important to include these to avoid missing out on significant swathes of data, which involves working in partnership to ensure solutions exist for all.
Tom Catchpole said that Cefas has also been working with smaller inshore vessels, for example combining AI and camera technology on crab and lobster potters. He said that this particular collaboration has demonstrated the feasibility of automatically generating data from potting vessels and transmitting it straight to a database. Catchpole agreed that there are different challenges for different fleets, and that lack of space, crew, and time on smaller vessels is an issue, although the potential for technology such as mobile phones for capturing images is being explored as a way to address challenges.
How has Cefas convinced vessels to take part in Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) trials, given that fishers associate REM with compliance measures?
Catchpole acknowledged that the topic of compliance and enforcement is always one of the first to be raised in conversations around REM. He said that Cefas views REM as one of a number of tools to generate data, and that in some cases REM offers the best resolution. Catchpole gave the example of skippers in southwest England being willing to install REM systems to generate highly detailed catch data for scientific purposes. He added that it is essential to always discuss the intended use of data at the outset of any collaboration, to make clear to participants about what data would be used and how, and to have data sharing agreements in place.
Clark said that, as with any other source of data, REM data could be used to identify non-compliance. However, this is not the primary purpose of REM when it comes to the MMO’s activities, and the MMO would only use data from this source in a highly targeted way if for monitoring purposes.
Are there opportunities for fisheries to become involved with data collection projects such as EVERYFISH?
John Reidar Mathiassen said that in the specific case of EVERYFISH, there is scope for fisheries to join this ongoing project if they do not need funding to do so. Catchpole added that Cefas’ involvement in EVERYFISH centres on mid-scale demersal fisheries, which connects with Cefas’ other work including the voluntary scientific REM study; as such, there may be opportunities for UK fisheries to get involved with this or with other projects.
Are there mechanisms in development or in place for agencies such as Cefas and IFCAs to collaborate on the analysis of new types of data such as that from in-Vehicle Monitoring Systems (iVMS)?
Jenny Stewart (MMO) said that as part of the iVMS rollout, the MMO is currently focusing on building capability to merge that data across its suite of fisheries data, rather than partnering to share or merge the data more widely.
Catchpole added that the GeoFISH tool which links VMS data with logbook data is also able to incorporate iVMS data, and given that datasets are held with the MMO but accessible by Cefas, some such data connections are already in place.
Could iVMS be used in enforcement where there is no other legal evidence of non-compliance? For example, if a vessel was fishing in a Marine Protected Area?
Clarke said that it was not possible to make generalisations, and that each and any case would have to be considered on its own merits. However, he added that he would be surprised if iVMS was ever used in isolation, and that it is much more likely that such data would need to form part of a suite of evidence, or else could be used to indicate where investigation should be focused.
Sheryll Murray MP commented that if iVMS showed a vessel to be in an area, this alone could not provide proof of fishing activity. In response to Clarke saying that it might be possible to infer that fishing has taken place if the vessel showed a slower rate of knots, Sheryll added that there might be circumstances such as a vessel breaking down. Clarke replied that this is why it is unlikely that iVMS data would ever be used exclusively in any investigation; rather, it could be a useful source of intelligence if combined with other sources to enable the evidential test for prosecution to be passed. He added that prosecution was always a last resort for the MMO anyway.
Would it be feasible for the fishing industry to contribute to the costs of data collection in the future?
Elena Balestri said that this could be considered in the future, but that the focus should be on involving the industry in co-management and enabling it to develop policies and processes that are appealing and practical for fishers. She added that it would be unfair to ask the industry to take on the costs of any initiatives that might be imposed instead of co-developed.
Steve Mackinson agreed with Balestri, saying that costs should be commensurate with roles and responsibilities and the degree to which the industry is passively or actively involved in collaborations. He added that different fleets within the industry have different abilities to shoulder costs, and so there could not be a one-size-fits-all approach. He also noted that the industry already pays for surveys in certain cases (e.g. in transferable quota systems) but that traditionally the public purse has covered costs relating to surveys with a conservation focus.
There is a lot of discussion of data, but who owns it?
Mackinson said that in the case of the Scottish pelagic industry-science data collection programme, the data owners are the data providers. The specific definition is as follows: “Data provider or owner: entity providing data (i.e. individual pelagic vessels and/ or factories), and responsible for agreeing data use”. He added that it is important to have in place a data policy and any data sharing agreements which define different roles and responsibilities.
Balestria said that for any kind of data collection, it is important to establish protocols on data ownership, data sharing agreements and clear understandings of the purpose and intended use of the collected data. She added that as data collection can have implications for confidentiality and business impact, it is essential to clarify what level of anonymisation will be applied to data before it can be published or released to mitigate any such impact.
Given that the same level of traceability expected of fish caught in the UK is not being applied to imports, does this disadvantage the UK fishing industry?
Clark said that some processes are in place for monitoring imports, including partnerships with port health authorities. However, the importance of seafood exports to many UK businesses means that ensuring export processes are in place has been the priority. He acknowledged that more work is needed on imports, and that Defra is keen for this.
For a while it looked like the Terramare might become the Terrafirma after the cradle refused to budge and she became stuck on the slip but then, after several attempts, and thanks to harbour staff, engineers, the harbour tug Danmark and the Penlee lifeboat she was successfully towed down the slip and off the cradle.
Boats using the slip in Newlyn rely on entering and leaving the slipway cradle on or near high water depending on the vessel's draught and some boats can only do so on a big spring tide.
As the fishing fleet modernises and boats become deeper drafted an increasing number of Newlyn vessels are forced to travel hundreds, some more thsan 1000 miles as far as Scotland or Holland to be serviced.
This greatly highlights the justification for some serious modernisation of the harbour's infrastructure to cater for the growing demands made by fishing and work boats in the South West - where we know the likes of wind-farms and similar marine projects are already in the pipeline.
The demonstration was organized at the call of the elected officials of the Bigouden country to ask the government to defend the fishing industry. After Brexit and the announcement of the limitation of fishing licenses, 26 boats will be scrapped at the port of Guilvinec. "The maritime sector represents 2,000 jobs in the Bigouden country alone, from shipbuilding to transport with, in the middle of all this, of course, the sailors-fishermen. A job at sea is five jobs on land", underlines the chosen one. If we lose 120 to 150 sailors, behind that we have 600 to 700 jobs threatened very directly."
The president of Pays bigouden sud is "convinced that there is a future for fishing" even if it is necessary to "rewrite a new economic model" . However, he says he is "well aware that the good years are behind us, that the model must be renewed" . The city councilor affirms, with the other local elected officials, wanting to "be force of proposals" in the hope that the government will retain some of them and that "announcements will be made in the coming weeks to save this sector which feeds France" .
The elected official believes that there are two other "emergency measures" to be taken. One concerns licenses and quotas: “We have the licenses which are attached to the boats which are going to be deconstructed and which we wish to see return to our maritime district to be able to install new sailors who leave with new units at sea. As for the quotas, "we must recover the lost tonnages. We have more efficient and more modern boats which have fishing capacities but we do not give them the quotas to fish", he regrets .
Then, according to him, there is "an extremely strategic point which is going a little under silence for the moment, it is this European desire to prohibit trawling and dredging fishing in marine protected areas . However, opposite Back home, we only fish in marine protected areas".
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