Each fishing vessel has the potential to become a platform for research, says Mike Park, chief executive of the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association.
Fishermen are adapting new systems which can collect it, but it is expensive to do so and financial help needs to be provided, reports Andrew Martin.
Mr Park was giving his reaction to the presentations by leading scientists, made during the ‘New Challenges and Opportunities facing Marine Science’ conference held at Fishmongers’ Hall in London on 31 October.
The day had begun with a presentation about the reforms recommended to be made to the European Common Fisheries Policy. Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said that decisions on future catches were based on the scientific advice received but it was not easy to get these decisions right.
This implied that the advice was not always sufficiently accurate, but without data there can be no proper scientific advice, she said.
The big stumbling block, of course, was the European practice of discarding – throwing back overboard – fish that was over quota or not sufficiently valuable to land, a practice called “ludicrous” by Sir John Beddington, the UK government’s chief scientific advisor.
Several speakers pointed out that this fish was not recorded so data on which quota decisions were made were based on the amount of fish landed, not on the amount which was actually caught.
Sir Angus Stirling, chairman of the Fishmongers’ Company’s Fish & Fisheries Committee, said that the data available were limited and “a lot of the information required is not available”. He said there should be a move to simpler computer assessment models and that use should be made of industry advice.
Steve Mackinson of Cefas agreed that knowledge from fishermen, which he said was currently being wasted, should be combined with that of the scientists. “Fishermen have more to contribute,” he told delegates. “We have to work with [industry] stakeholders.”
The point was made that data that had been collected were often not properly used. “There is a lot of data,” said Carl O’Brien, also from Cefas, “but it is not always collated, put together.”
Phil MacMullen of Seafish commented that the communication between providers and users [of data] was very hazy, while World Fishing & Aquaculture’s own contributor, Menakhem Ben-Yami, said that scientists should be sent out onboard fishing vessels rather than them spending all their time working on computer models.
Ray Hilborn from the USA made the point that conclusions drawn from old data should not be cast in stone. There had been a projection in 1998 based on the trophic level of landings that all large fish used for direct human consumption would have disappeared by 2048.
However, a more recent analysis of the data showed that the trophic level of catches was actually increasing.
The message from the conference was that science has a vital role in fisheries management, but fishermen’s views are vital as well.
Presentations made at the conference, which was attended by approximately 125 delegates, are available on the Fishmongers’ Company website www.FishHall.org.uk
