Seafish, the UK seafood authority, has announced the first skipper to renew his Responsible Fishing Scheme (RFS) certificate. Ayrshire skipper Ian Wightman was the first fisherman to join the Responsible Fishing Scheme and is the first to renew his certificate with the scheme. He skippers the Eilidh Anne, a day boat fishing for langoustine out of Largs, on the Firth of Clyde.
Mr Wightman has been a fisherman for nearly 30 years and has always tried to run his business in the most environmentally friendly and sustainable way. He recently won the ‘Catching for the Market’ award at the 2009 Seafood Awards.
Developed in 2006 by Seafish, the Responsible Fishing Scheme promotes good operational and environmental practices. Based on a Publicly Available Specification from the British Standards Institution (BSi), the scheme is an independent, audited assessment of the application of good practice by a vessel skipper and crew in their fishing operations.
There are nearly 600 UK registered vessels actively involved with the scheme, with over 340 now fully certified. This represents over 44% of the overall registered tonnage of the British fishing fleet.
