December 2014

newsThe National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations

For all the latest news check out our brand new website www.nffo.org.uk@NFFO_UK

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The drive to reach maximum sustainable yield (MSY) by 2015, the centrepiece of the new CFP, poses a direct and immediate threat to the survival of those small-scale fisheries dependent on quota species. Although the media focus recently has tended to focus on the distribution of quotas, these pale into insignificance against the scale of the TAC reductions for 2015 proposed by the European Commission. Some of these provide a direct threat to the very existence of some small-scale fisheries.

If those proposals are accepted by the Council of Ministers on 16th December, it can only mean one thing - that the kind of casualties already seen in the Bristol Channel this year will be visited upon other inshore fleets in 2015.

The scale of the proposed reductions are breathtaking, including:

• A 60% reduction in the TAC for eastern Channel sole, a stock of central importance to the inshore fleet.

• A 64% cut in the TAC for Celtic Sea cod,

MSY threat to small-scale fisherieswhich will impact on a wide range of fleets including the under-10s.

• Bristol Channel sole cut by 35%, when the existing quota was exhausted by June of this year.

• Haddock in the Celtic Sea cut by 41%; another stock fished by a wide range of vessel sizes.

• Skates and Rays in the North Sea and Western Waters face a further cut of 20%.

If these proposed cuts had taken place against the background of a crisis in the stocks, it might have been plausible to argue that this very severe medicine is necessary to counter extreme overfishing. But they take place against the background of greatly reduced fishing pressure and a generally improving biomass for the stocks in our waters. These are not cuts driven by scientific stock assessments which indicate a serious problem with stocks. They are driven exclusively by a political agenda which forces an MSY timetable on decision-makers; along with a brutal approach to any fishery deemed to have insufficient data.

There is a direct contradiction between

concerns expressed by a range of green organisations for notional small-scale fisheries and the lobbying activities of those same organisations at European level for an “ambitious” MSY timetable, which could well lead to the demise of a range of actual small-scale fisheries.

The scale of the proposed quota reductions, against the background of increasing abundance of fish stocks experienced on the grounds, could lead one to forgive those predisposed to conspiracy theories. But despite appearances, this is not a plot to eliminate the small-scale fisheries around our coasts. It is primarily the result of a blundering political decision, enshrined in law in the new CFP, to force ministers to set TACs according to a rigid timetable – MSY by 2015, or 2020 at the latest. Scientists, officials, ministers and, of course fishermen and fish workers, are now tied into a legal framework with very little room to manoeuvre. That was exactly the intention of enshrining MSY – a political concept masquerading as science – as a

John Butterwith ©

The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations Newsletter

For all the latest news check out our brand new website www.nffo.org.uk @NFFO_UK

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mandatory part of the new CFP.For those who think that we are crying

wolf, and don’t have the imagination to envisage the consequences of this scale of quota reductions, it is only necessary to look at the experience of the Bristol Channel this year: quotas so small, following cumulative reductions, as to become unmanageable; fleets displaced from the Bristol Channel; under-10m vessels tied up; the main fish processor closed; fish workers who have lost their jobs. This can only be the fate of other fisheries if these reductions are accepted.

Alternative PathSince 2000, fishing mortality has been dramatically reduced across the North East Atlantic by around 50%. Stocks are rebuilding; some rapidly; some more slowly, depending on local and ecosystem factors. A rational, balanced and proportionate fisheries management approach would aim to continue this steady climb towards high-yield fisheries, without bankrupting the fleets. Even within the rigid CFP framework, ministers do have some scope to balance out the more extreme effects of the MSY timetable by setting TACs at a level commensurate with the viability of the fleets; and avoiding the unacceptable human costs of a repeat of the Bristol Channel catastrophe.

This will take political courage - to face down those in the green lobby and their friends in the media, apparently oblivious to the human costs of the policies they have largely been responsible for. It will take international cooperation – ministers will have to work together to avoid being isolated and picked off by concessions here and there. It will take a deeper understanding of the consequences of cumulative TAC reductions on fishing businesses and fishing communities. It will also take the intervention of the new Commissioner to ameliorate the dogmatic and damaging policies of his predecessor.

The NFFO has responded to a call to re-launch a government campaign to designate 127 marine conservation zones across the UK.

Former Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw’s letter in the Independent on Sunday is a call to arms for the immediate designation of 127 marine conservation zones across UK waters, supposedly designed to protect our seas against a ‘climate change battleground’.

Not only is he championing a campaign that is a mixture of inaccurate information and over simplification. It is one that defies scientific evidence.

These are a number of reasons why the campaign does not need to be resurrected:

• Closed areas did not play a significant role in rebuilding the North American cod stocks in the 1980s as he stated. He seems to have made this up.

• Bass stocks have not “collapsed”. Poor recruitment and high fishing pressure (both commercial and recreational) have led to a decline in biomass. It is important to introduce balanced and proportionate constraints to reverse this trend. What this has to do with his central thesis: the immediate introduction of 127 marine conservation zones is hard to discern.

• West Country boats are not tied-up, as he implies, because of overfishing of skates and rays but because of quotas drastically reduced

to meet a short-sighted and arbitrary policy timetable. Ray catches in the Bristol Channel have not varied more than 3% over the last 7 years.

• The spurious link that he makes between marine conservation zones and climate change is just baffling.

This is a disturbing mishmash of ignorance and misleading assertion. It has at its heart the notion that marine conservation zones are a panacea for all the ills of the marine environment, indeed the world, when they are not. Well designed and situated marine protected areas have an important role to play in protecting vulnerable marine habitats and species. They are not a panacea or substitute for a range alternative fisheries management measures which are successfully rebuilding our fish stocks.

There is a very good reason why the Government’s policy of implementing a network of marine conservation zones, carefully and progressively is the correct approach. It is not in nature conservancy’s or in the fishing industry’s interest to put marine protected areas in the wrong place.

The signatories to Ben Bradshaw’s letter should know better. Indeed many of them do know better but chose to go along with a simplistic campaign because it carries a clear but misleading slogan which they hope the public will support.

Call to resurrect MCZs is a ‘mishmash of misinformation and ignorance’

David Linkie ©

The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations Newsletter

For all the latest news check out our brand new website www.nffo.org.uk@NFFO_UK

Safety Digests are lifesaversFishing remains one of the most dangerous professions in the UK, with fatal accidents in 2014 already jumping up 25 per cent on last year. This is why we are urging fishermen and anyone who works at sea to minimise their risk of accident by reading the latest Safety Digest from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch’s (MAIB) and by signing up for future editions.

MAIB’s Safety Digests provide anonymous case studies on the latest marine accident investigations and share useful information on how to avoid repeating the same misfortunes as others.

The NFFO’s Safety and Training Officer, Robert Greenwood, wrote an introduction for the Fishing Vessel section and said: “One of the best learning mechanisms is reviewing previous mistakes and understating how to avoid them next time. However, such is the danger at sea that sometimes there isn’t a next time. We would urge anyone who takes safety at sea seriously to read these free digests and learn from the misfortune of others, rather than becoming doomed to repeat their mistakes.”

Based on MAIB official reports, the digests are presented in a magazine format for easy reading and omit names and specifics to provide anonymity to those involved. Each case study includes a narrative of the incident followed by a checklist of learnings that other skippers and seafarers can learn from.

Mr Greenwood continued: “In the last ten years there have been almost 3,500 accidents in the fishing industry with 94 lives lost. Reading these digests just a couple of times a year can help you avoid unnecessarily making mistakes that, at best, could result in an expensive fishing vessel being wrecked, or worse, you and your crew failing to come home to your families. These digests really are lifesavers.”

Subscription to the digests is free and anyone can sign up to receive them either by email or through the post. Sign up today by emailing maibpublications@dft.gsi.gov.uk, call 023 8039 5500 or 023 8039 5500 or get in touch by post at Publications, MAIB, Mountbatten House, Grosvenor Square, Southampton, SO15 2JU.

A summit of fishermen, regulators, scientists and other stakeholders was held recently in the impressive surroundings of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Scene setting presentations were made by a number of organisations, including the NFFO which outlined the progress that had been made within the industry in defining a way forward for the crab and lobster fisheries, including:

- A cap on the over-15m high volume crab fishery as a first step in dealing with latent capacity.

- Regionalised technical measures.- An incremental step-wise approach, rather

than grandiose national schemes which never reach take-off speed.

During the meeting, three key issues surfaced above the others:

• Knowledge base for management decisions.• Regionalised measures.• Policy inertia in beginning to deal with

latent capacity.This summit provided a powerful wake-up

call for the industry, regulators and scientists alike. The pot fisheries enjoy a number of important advantages, but if this economically

NFFO Summit: the future of shellfish policy

vital sector is to avoid sleep-walking into a host of new problems it will need to address:

• Problems of managing the fisheries on the basis of limited data.

• Regional management authorities which ought to be closer to the fisheries that they manage but in some cases cling to the old discredited closed, top-down styles.

• Inertia in shellfish policy that has held progress in a vice-like grip, especially in dealing with the high-volume part of the industry, where a start should be made immediately.

A fuller report on the summit can be viewed at www.nffo.org.uk

Spurdog presents a particular challenge to fishermen, fisheries managers, scientists and conservationists. Caught as a by-catch in a number of different fishing gears, its conservation status is giving cause for concern; but as the species is extremely difficult for fishing vessels to avoid, some question the effectiveness of the zero TAC that has been applied for the last few years to rebuild the stock. At the same time it generates a large number of dead discards. Fishermen have repeatedly expressed their frustration at having to throw back dead spurdog on those sporadic and irregular occasions when spurdog appear in their nets.

Possible alternatives to a zero TAC for spurdog are the focus of an NFFO led Fisheries Science Partnership project and the subject of a broad stakeholder meeting held recently in London.

Along with Cefas scientists, Defra policy officials, and NGOs, the NFFO has been

working on the design of a pilot project that could provide some answers on how spurdog stocks could be rebuilt without impeding the main economic fisheries. The project has a particular urgency because zero TACs will not be compatible with the Landings Obligation. The stark choice appears to be to define spurdog as a prohibited species, (which will not address the problem of dead discarding) or permit a small by-catch allowance consistent with continued stock recovery, (which if not handled very carefully could become the ultimate choke species, preventing vessels from catching their main economic target species).

The London meeting was certainly successful in highlighting the complexity of the issue; but also in demonstrating unity of purpose between scientists, policy-makers, conservationists and fishermen; and did point towards some possible solutions. Cefas’ work on the spatial and seasonal distribution of spurdog was highly relevant and may provide the basis for a successful avoidance programme, if used within a flexible and adaptive policy approach.

Spurdog bycatch initiative

David Linkie ©

The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations Newsletter

For all the latest news check out our brand new website www.nffo.org.uk@NFFO_UK

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www.nffo.org.uk

National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations30 Monkgate, York YO31 7PF

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Fishermen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have expressed their mounting alarm that concessions granted to Scotland in the wake of hasty promises made during the referendum campaign will be made at their expense.

There are two main items on the SNP shopping list which if accepted would have direct and adverse consequences for British fishermen outside Scotland:

1. A bigger say at the Council of Ministers in Brussels.

2. Direct control of “inalienable” Scottish fishing quota.

There must be no question of ceding further influence at European level in the Council of Ministers. The Scottish minister can already be invited by the UK minister to speak on issues with a particular Scottish dimension. It would set an unwelcome precedent but more importantly, it would create a democratic deficit. The UK fisheries Minister, when he speaks in Council, is answerable to, and held accountable for his actions by the Westminster Parliament, which is elected by the whole of the UK. A Scottish minister only holds a mandate from the Scottish electorate.

Neither should the claim that assumption Scotland is predominant in fishing be taken at face value. More bulk may be landed in Scotland but it is a plain fact that the rest of the UK has more fishing boats and more fishermen than Scotland. Their interests should not be ignored in the post-referendum scramble.

As with regards to the SNP demand that Scotland’s share of fishing quota should be inalienably held in Scotland, it would seem that the SNP Government likes the flexibility to transfer quota into Scotland from other parts of the UK (indeed at present parts of the Scottish fleet would barely be viable without such transfers.) But they want this to be a one-way valve which would clearly put other UK fishing interests at a disadvantage. The SNP stance on NFFO quotas is strong on rhetoric but lacks equity or credibility.

Ex-England rugby star Matt Dawson has launched the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisation’s new blog with an article praising the work of UK fishermen and encouraging the British public to be more adventurous with the species of fish they try.

‘Fishing Matters’ is the NFFO’s latest initiative highlighting the great work happening in all sections of the industry. It’s also a way of providing a platform for small scale fishermen to have their voices heard and share best practice with one another, as well as acquainting them with processors, supermarkets and consumers, strengthening re l a t i on sh i p s and creating links within the industry.

M a t t i s a s e l f -p r o c l a i m e d f i s h enthusiast and created the TV programme ‘Matt and Mi tch ’s Big Fish Recipes’ in which he accompanied Michel in Star chef Mitch Tonks on a foodie’s adventure of the UK. The pair travelled the UK coast, making pit-stops in fishing bays up and down the country and cooking a host of fish recipes. In his blog entry, the Question of Sport panellist commends UK fishermen for their hard work and says the public has ‘no idea of the commitment, the sacrifice and downright graft’ it takes to provide a constant, diverse

NFFO launches new ‘Fishing Matters’ blog

food source.Barrie Deas, Chief Executive of the NFFO,

said: “As an open, outward-facing organisation, the NFFO is keen to provide a platform for dialogue to those with the interests of the fishing industry at heart. We have already managed to gather a great variety of blogs from industry experts throughout the catching and consumer sectors, as well as processors and supermarkets. The blog is a true representation of the effects of the work of fishermen.”

‘Fishing Matters’, which is being hosted on the NFFO website, also includes a contribution from Matt’s fish food partner

Mitch, who provides advice to fishermen on making their catch as desirable to chefs as possible to command higher prices at auction. The NFFO has already received further contributions from a Press Association

journalist, the UK’s seafood authority Seafish, and fishermen themselves.

In 2013, 12,150 British fishermen landed 624,00 tonnes of sea fish in the UK, amounting to a value of £718m – all from a range of small, medium and large fishing vessels.

If you would like to contribute to the blog please contact nffo@nffo.org.uk

NFFO expresses alarm at Scottish concessions

Matt Dawson, right with Mitch Tonks