Category: Blog

Support from the Company’s Fisheries Charitable Trust has delivered the launch of a new apprenticeship programme designed to bring through the next generation of fishers. With recruitment presenting a key challenge to the future of the UK fishing industry and the sector facing an ageing work force, it is hoped that this programme will help develop a new cohort of British fishermen who can continue the legacy of this historic industry.

The programme, developed by the South Western Fish Producer Organisation (SWFPO) will support the first fisher apprenticeship programme in England. The 18 month apprenticeship allows students to get a hands-on experience and learn about the whole fishing operation from sea to sale.

As an apprentice, students will be employed by Supplytrain, but get to work across different boats within the SWFPO membership, catching different fish and learning from experienced crew while also studying seamanship, gear construction and how to care for the catch at South Devon College.

The life of a commercial fisher is physically demanding but immensely rewarding, providing the skills and opportunities to become an experienced deckhand, a skipper, a marine engineer or even a future vessel owner.

The programme has now secured the support of the Morrisons supermarket chain, who are transferring over £100K of apprenticeship funding to the fishing sector. Morrisons is transferring an Apprenticeship Levy to Supplytrain to help train ten new apprentice fishermen.

The Government Apprenticeship Levy is paid by employers to help fund apprenticeship programmes and Morrisons has agreed to transfer £100,000 of its funds to pay for the SWFPO’s first cohort of ten apprentices. The first cohort will start their programme this September.

Fisheries Innovation and Sustainability, a coalition of experts working to drive strategic innovation for a prosperous UK fishing industry, funded by the FCFCT’s Good Practice in UK Fishing programme, are developing new technology which could significantly reduce the amount of bycatch (the unintentional capture of non-targeted species) in fishing vessels.

Smartrawl – an underwater robotic sorting device which helps fishing trawlers prevent bycatch by identifying and sizing fish and other marine life in real-time – is being developed by researchers from Heriot-Watt University in partnership with FIS, and funded by the UK Seafood Innovation Fund.

The technology has now been covered on STV, you can watch the footage here.

Smartrawl uses AI-technology to determine the individual size and species of marine life captured inside a trawl net using images taken by an underwater stereo camera. It then releases or retains each marine animal depending on whether it qualifies against a trawler’s intended catch using a computer-controlled robotic gate.

Trawling is a fishing practice that herds and captures target species, like fish or prawns, by towing a net along the ocean floor. This method of fishing is known to cause discarding and bycatch, where fish or other marine animals are accidentally caught and returned to the sea, most often dead. According to global marine fisheries data, it is estimated that 46% of all marine fish that are discarded come from this method of fishing.

Developed by researchers from the Lyell Centre and the National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University, the sorting device has been designed in collaboration with the UK fishing industry. An industry steering group composed of commercial skippers, fisheries scientists and seafood experts have fed into the unique project since 2017, led by FIS. The Smartrawl device is able to fit into existing nets of all sizes of vessels and requires no additional cables due to the device’s patented gate system which works with the force of the water to rotate between open and closed states.

Using the system, fishers will be able to programme trawls to catch specific marine animals according to their size and species, market conditions and allotted quotas, resulting in no discards or bycatch.

Components of the project have already been tested at sea, and further trials are scheduled for later this year [2023] in Shetland using the research vessel Atlantia, operated by the University of the Highlands and Islands.

Paul Fernandes, the inventor of Smartrawl, is scientific lead for the project. He is a professor of fisheries science and technology at the Lyell Centre and Heriot-Watt Bicentennial Research Leader. He said:

“More than 4 million tonnes of marine fish are unintentionally caught by trawlers around the world every year, as well as bycatch of sharks, rays, dolphins, critically endangered turtles and seabirds. The sad reality is that these creatures, more often than not, are returned to the sea dead or dying.

“Current methods used on trawlers are unable to distinguish between different species and animals or give skippers enough information to build an accurate understanding of the size of individual fish prior to capture.

“Smartrawl has been developed to ensure that vessels only catch the fish they’re targeting, releasing other animals back into their natural environment quickly and without harm. As a result, we’re confident that discarding and bycatch could quickly become a thing of the past and our precious marine life preserved.”

David Richardson, chief entrepreneurial executive at Heriot-Watt University, said:

“Smartrawl presents a significant step towards benefiting the marine environment whilst protecting the business reputation of seafood producers and contributing to the UK economy. Significantly, it has the potential to revolutionise fisheries around the world by supporting them to be more commercially viable and sustainable.

“Across Heriot-Watt’s breadth of research facilities, institutions and campuses, we’re delivering real-world impact everyday, developing ground-breaking research into commercial applications and pioneering solutions to some of our planet’s most pressing challenges.”

FIS Executive Director, Kara Brydson, noted:

“The UK Seafood Innovation Fund supports bold and ambitious tech-driven projects that will enable a step-change in the productivity and sustainability of the UK seafood sector. That perfectly describes Smartrawl, and this grant will take us nearer to our goal of enabling UK fishers to select and retain their high-quality catch while releasing non-target species back into our seas.”

Fishing into the Future is playing a pivotal role in a social research project providing industry guidance, communications support, and fishermen facilitators to build trust and bridge connections between industry and academia.

The industry-led charity and long term partner of our Fisheries Charitable Trust, Fishing into the Future (FITF), are working alongside industry to design a Commercial Fisheries Social Survey, which will will collect data on health and wellbeing, cultural identity, community, traditions, and values amongst fishers. The survey will be led by the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) at the University of Gloucestershire and is funded by DEFRA. Industry stakeholders will have an opportunity to say what they feel needs to be included in the survey. Fishing into the Future are helping CCRI to directly reach members of the catch sector. This includes online and in-person workshops at fishing ports, held between March and May 2023.

Emma Plotnek, FITF Executive Director said:

“We have many experienced, forward-thinking people on our Trusteeship, so we are very well positioned to play a supporting role to communicate, provide advice and build trust and connections in projects such as this one. In particular, being able to have fishermen from our Board of Trustees facilitating and actively participating in the workshops has been so valuable to the work.

Participants see a member of their local industry vouching for the credibility of this work, and are able to keep the jargon to a minimum helping to bridge gaps in understanding between industry and the researchers, and vice versa.  

When the team at the University of Gloucestershire asked us to be involved in the co-design process, we saw this as a fantastic opportunity to support the advancement of industry, researchers and policymakers towards co-management.  It’s well known that social data is scarce in the fishing industry, so we want to encourage meaningful research that could potentially inform future fisheries management and capture the social situation within the industry and how it changes over time.”

More information on the project can be viewed on the Fishing Porthole Website. If you would like to get involved with the charity you can visit the website, follow them on social media or contact the FITF Executive Director, Emma Plotnek, for more information.

Contact: emma@fitf.co.uk

The Fishmongers’ Company’s Fisheries Charitable Trust, in partnership with UK Women in Fisheries, is offering five free places on The Oxford Women’s Leadership Development Programme from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

This 6-week online course offers a space to critically examine, acknowledge, and develop your leadership style and skills within a community of like-minded professionals. The course will help you to gain an understanding of the challenges female leaders face within the workplace and explore the unique strengths that will enable you to lead, negotiate, and influence others. Discover how to analyse and navigate cultural dimensions, and expand your mentorship capabilities in order to empower others to pursue leadership roles. Based on an overarching programme framework of self-acceptance, self-management, and self-development, you’ll gain the skills and confidence to broaden your impact and realise your full potential as a leader.

Applicants for the Fishmonger’ grant do not need to have formal qualifications, but they must have knowledge of and experience within the fishing and seafood sector. Applicants should also express an interest in supporting fisheries management, with preference given to those who currently manage or would like to support the development of fishing associations. The grant forms part of Fishmongers’ ambitions to support the development of fishing and seafood associations that address regional and national opportunities and challenges.

In order to complete the programme, you’ll need a current email account and access to a computer and the internet, as well as a PDF Reader. You may need to view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and read and create documents in Microsoft Word or Excel.

To apply, please email Alison.Freeman@Fishmongers.org.uk by 26th February 2023.

Working alongside the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation (SCFF) and Herriot Watt University, the Company is helping to support the development of ropeless fishing gear, helping to make fishing practices safer for wildlife and ultimately save the lives of sharks, wales and dolphins.

Entanglement is the biggest identified cause of death due to human activity for minke and humpback whales, and the extent of the issue has not been well understood. Whales and other marine animals can become entangled in fishing equipment, including the ropes linking creels (also known as pots), which are set around Scotland’s coasts to catch prawns, crabs and lobsters.  There is now a legal obligation in Scotland for fishers to report entanglements.

In 2021, a study involving the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA), the Scottish Government, and academics, estimated that in Scottish waters, approximately six humpback whales and 30 minke whales become entangled in creel fishing ropes each year. Other marine species such as basking sharks and dolphins were also recorded to have been entangled.

‘Ropeless gear’ technologies do exist to mitigate the issue of entanglements. Developed in the US, they work by using an acoustic release device to allow the rope that would usually be in the water column to be stored at depth and then released on demand. However, the current technology is too expensive or cumbersome for use in the UK fishing sector.

In 2022, the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation (SCFF) approached the FCFCT’s Fishing Industry Science Partnership Network for their help to devise ‘ropeless’ technology that would be fit for purpose.  The FISP Network connected the SCFF and SEA with Heriot Watt University. Following a collaborative process, the stakeholders designed and developed an acoustic release device and associated gear marking technology that will be trialled by the fishing industry this year.

Yvan Petillot, project lead and professor in robotics at Heriot-Watt University, has previously developed acoustic communications suitable for underwater use and has developed solutions for underwater sensing using connected acoustic modems. His team of students will utilise underwater remote sensing technology to develop and test a new generation of low-cost systems, linked to a state-of-the-art software app to provide the capabilities required by the creel industry in Scotland. They will integrate modems (which come with low power electronics) with a latch system attached to the creel to release on demand. Alongside this, there will be development of a top station with a Bluetooth link to a mobile phone app to release the rope. Finally, the project will develop an electronic marking system in place of where a buoy would mark gear.

The Scottish inshore fishing industry makes a significant contribution to the national economy and forms the backbone of many small coastal communities. Entanglements have conservation, welfare and economic consequences, costing the industry in gear replacement. This project aims  to make an affordable technology, predicting £50 a unit when produced in bulk, to ensure a workable mitigation strategy for reducing entanglements.

Yvan Petillot, project lead and professor in robotics at Heriot-Watt University, has previously developed acoustic communications suitable for underwater use and has developed solutions for underwater sensing using connected acoustic modems. His team of students will utilise underwater remote sensing technology to develop and test a new generation of low-cost systems, linked to a state-of-the-art software app to provide the capabilities required by the creel industry in Scotland. They will integrate modems (which come with low power electronics) with a latch system attached to the creel to release on demand. Alongside this, there will be development of a top station with a Bluetooth link to a mobile phone app to release the rope. Finally, the project will develop an electronic marking system in place of where a buoy would mark gear.

The Scottish inshore fishing industry makes a significant contribution to the national economy and forms the backbone of many small coastal communities. Entanglements have conservation, welfare and economic consequences, costing the industry in gear replacement. This project aims to make an affordable technology, predicting £50 a unit when produced in bulk, to ensure a workable mitigation strategy for reducing entanglements.