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Sustainable Scottish Inshore Fisheries

An EFF funded project led by Seafish and managed by MASTS

Introduction

The European Fisheries Fund (EFF) is providing £1.4 million of funding through Seafish to support research within Scottish inshore fisheries. This is in direct response to Scotland’s Inshore Fisheries Groups (IFGs) recognition that there is a lack of evidence (data) upon which to better manage Scotland’s inshore fisheries. The project ‘Evidence Gathering In Support of Sustainable Scottish Inshore Fisheries’ has been commissioned to take place between June 2014 and July 2015, in support of the future sustainability of the industry and consists of 7 sub-projects or “Work Packages”. The funding from the EFF therefore looked at the benefit of the IFGs by addressing key knowledge gaps identified in their management plans. These included, for example, establishing the location and footprint of fishing activities, improving catch data to enable stock assessments, improving local market opportunities for inshore fisheries, and developing an information resource base for inshore fisheries management. This pilot work was part of a 7 year project plan which will include accessing additional funding from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), thereby contributing to the longer-term development of the industry and sustainable fisheries management. The contractors commissioned to deliver the Work Packages engaged with the industry to undertake their research. The results will be used to inform future fisheries policy, therefore ensuring the programme runs in close working partnership with IFGs, is of paramount importance.

An article has been published on WP2 and WP3 in Fishing News to read please click here

To view a 10 minute video summarising the results of this project please see below