The Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association (SPFA) has appointed a chief scientific officer to spearhead marine research to boost understanding of key pelagic fish stocks and improve their management.
The organisation says that the appointment of Dr Steven Mackinson represents an innovative new approach to fisheries management where fishing vessels will play a significant role in collecting and disseminating scientific information on fish stocks.
Dr Mackinson joins from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) where he was a senior fisheries scientist. A specialist in marine ecosystems and fisheries, he willdrive forward scientific work to enhance knowledge of economically vital pelagic fish stocks such as mackerel, herring and blue whiting.
Using catch and other data gathered by the Scottish pelagic fleet, the information collated by Dr Mackinson will be fed into the formal scientific international stock assessment process which is used to provide advice on annual quota limits and other management measures.
Ian Gatt, chief executive of the SPFA, said: “In the current difficult financial climate, there is often a shortfall in information from marine scientific surveys carried out by national governments.
“With this in mind, we decided that we should contribute to this process by appointing our own scientist to aid in the provision of key fisheries data. The scope of the activities of our fishing boats, and the wide sea area they cover, offers the ideal platform for collecting marine data on a much more comprehensive scale than would otherwise be possible.”
As well as catch data, pelagic vessels will also be used as the platform to gather an array of information by other means, including acoustic surveys and egg surveys.
