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The Action Plan
6 Month Action Plan
Sustainable
In developing the UK position in negotiations on fishing opportunities, SEERAD will be guided by the approach of moderate fishing pressure as set out in this document.
SEERAD and Catchers will continue to apply the current management arrangements for the pelagic stocks and seek to maintain the herring fishery through the poor recruitments, including through appropriate cuts in the TACs:
SEERAD will convene the Scottish Scallop Advisory Committee ( SSAC) to develop an initial stock management strategy, addressing, amongst other things, enforcement and research. The SSAC will also consider the development of a commercial strategy for the sector.
SEERAD and Catchers will explore effort limitation to keep harvests at current rates, trial options to improve whitefish selectivity in the Nephrops fisheries, and, with Processors, explore the scope to introduce flexibility to increase mesh sizes.
SEERAD will aim to negotiate new management arrangements for North Sea Haddock that maintain a healthy stock by keeping fishing mortality at the current moderate levels but build in catch stability through TAC variation constraints.
FRS and Catchers will continue to work together to improve knowledge and understanding about the monkfish fisheries.
FRS and Catchers will establish a pilot industry/science partnership programme with seed corn funding from SEERAD.
Profitable
Scottish representatives on the Quota Management Change Programme Consultative Group will advocate a new system which supports the needs of the Scottish industry. They will also urge that the programme be accelerated towards completion by March 2007 and explore whether, to meet the needs of the Scottish industry, the new system this should involve distribution in favour of active quota users, including any financial arrangements required, and the extent to which this could be underpinned by government intervention.
SEERAD and Catchers will explore ways of reducing the costs of leasing 'days at sea' within the fleet.
SEERAD, Seafish and Catchers will work together to identify options for improvements in engine efficiency and gearing technology to reduce fuel costs and develop support programmes to enable these innovations to be taken up by the catching sector, including through the new EFF.
SEERAD, Seafish, Catchers and Environmental Interests will work together to promote the adoption of fuel efficient and environmentally friendly fishing gears and methods and investigate the funding required to stimulate these changes so that support can be obtained from the EFF as appropriate.
Seafish, Scottish Enterprise and SEERAD, working with all sectors, will develop and promote a strong focus on establishing an industry that can work together - one that shares best practices and co-operates to achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
SEERAD, Seafood Scotland and Catchers will promote further uptake of the advanced landings website and ensure adequate funding is in place to maintain it.
SEERAD, Seafood Scotland and Catchers will encourage the introduction of electronic auctions to enhance the transparency of markets for fishery products.
Seafish will analyse the Scottish seafood supply chain and identify value add and loss points for further work in order to promote more supply chain coherence.
Well-Managed
SEERAD will provide financial and administrative support to the RACs to ensure they can continue to shape fisheries management at the European level.
SEERAD and FRS will start a series of more formalised events designed to ensure the scientific priorities for the coming year reflect stakeholders' views.
SEERAD will introduce a system of electronic logbooks and sales notes to strengthen its capacity to take action on landings and sales.
Catchers and Processors and Environmental Interests will continue to work proactively with SEERAD on compliance policy development.
SFPA will develop a programme of regular stakeholder liaison at both the local and national level, starting with a series of events organised at ports. These will include explanations of the risk based approach to enforcement, descriptions of recent activities and trends and listening to stakeholder views. Catchers' Leaders will actively promote participation in these and related events.
SEERAD will step up its communication with stakeholders. It will:
- Produce the first of a biannual newsletter setting out ongoing work (with guest contributions from all interests).
- Improve its website as a source of information about fisheries management in Scotland and produce a compendium of the environmental legislation that has a bearing on fisheries, management.
- Set out how, in the context of this action plan, it sees its own role.
- Review its engagement with representative bodies, agreeing, in particular with the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, Fishing Associations and others in the catching sector, clear ground rules for dialogue and decision making.
- Publicise its business plans thereby helping others to plan ahead.
All will promote the merits of the virtuous cycle of good compliance, good data, good science and good prices.
SEERAD will commission a survey of attitudes to regulation in the sector, to help develop a better understanding of what action is necessary to improve how the sector is regulated, thereby fostering compliance in the long term.
18 Month Action Plan
Sustainable
FRS and Catchers will work together to improve the reliability of the pelagic stock assessments.
The SSAC will develop a further package of measures to improve the management of the Scottish Scallop fisheries. This will commence with a review of proposals already made to SEERAD by the industry, and may continue to include a review of technical measures and the need for additional measures to control effort. The Committee will also investigate practical methods of mapping the footprint of the fishery and FRS, SNH, the Industry and Environmental interests will work to reduce or mitigate any impact of scallop dredging on known sensitive marine areas in Scottish waters.
SEERAD and SIFAG will encourage the IFGs to increase minimum landing sizes for Nephrops where locally appropriate. FRS and Catchers will work to refine the quantitive assessment of Nephrops focusing especially on predicting future catch.
FRS will research discarding and by-catch levels in the haddock fisheries to form the basis for improvements to selectivity and better protection for juvenile year classes.
SEERAD and Catchers will explore mechanisms to cap effort in the monkfish fisheries, if this means TACs can be increased to improve data collection.
All stakeholders will support the urgent development of a revised cod recovery plan that ensures an equitable and effective contribution to further reductions in cod mortality across all the fisheries where it is caught, to enable the stock to recover.
Profitable
Seafish will enhance their fleet and vessel economic models so that SEERAD, Catchers and Processors can assess the fleet structure at appropriate intervals. This will form part of the work on horizon scanning.
SEERAD, Seafish and Catchers, will explore how to improve fuel efficiency so as to improve both profitability and environmental sustainability.
Processors and Scottish Enterprise will work together to consider where savings can be made in supply chain distribution costs, including identifying potential savings in amalgamating cold storage.
Seafish and Processors will consider the options open to them for maximising the value of waste and reducing environmental impact.
SEERAD, Seafish, Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Food and Drink Federation and the Scottish Food and Drink Industry Strategy Group will consider how the fisheries sector can best capitalise on opportunities for joint working and sharing of expertise with the wider food and drink sector and how it can best contribute to achieving the vision of the Scottish Food and Drink Strategy.
Well-Managed
SEERAD, Catchers and Environmental Interests will participate in the review of the RACs with the aim of consolidating and strengthening their role in the EU fisheries management system.
SEERAD and SIFAG will roll-out inshore fisheries groups throughout Scotland, including formulating strategies to ensure they are properly resourced and their conclusions rapidly implemented.
SEERAD and Catchers will ensure that maximum benefit is gained from the EU action plan on CFP simplification and the review of the technical conservation regulations. A steering group involving catcher interests will be established to steer this work. The initial priorities will include harmonised logbook tolerance.
SEERAD, SFPA, Catchers and Processors will develop codes of best practice where these will encourage compliance and promote sustainable fishing practices.
SEERAD will consult with industry on new regulatory proposals at an early stage, including on draft Regulatory Impact Assessments and pursue good regulatory practice in line with the Scottish Executive's Better Regulation policy.
3 Year Action Plan
Sustainable
SEERAD and Catchers will aim to improve the international management frameworks for the pelagic stocks to ensure more stability of catch through TAC variation constraints, ensure risk of stock depletion is tackled effectively and safeguard genetic structure.
Working through the SSAC, Catchers and Seafish will investigate the possibility of improving Scallop gear to reduce environmental impact and operating costs. FRS, SNH and the Industry will improve knowledge about scallop recruitment including spat fall and the use of closed areas.
SEERAD and SIFAG will encourage IFGs to guard against localised depletion of Nephrops grounds and resolve tensions between different users of the fisheries at local level. FRS and Catchers will quantify the environmental impacts of Nephrops fishing through spatial mapping.
SEERAD, FRS and Catchers will establish a long term industry/science partnership programme.
SEERAD will, in close liaison with catcher and environmental interests, take the steps required to fulfil Scotland's Natura 2000 obligations and work towards fulfilling the 2010 OSPAR commitment for a network of marine protected areas.
Profitable
Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Executive will examine current models for stronger community partnership in fishing communities, for example, reviewing the Building Buchan model and other projects identified through the COSLA, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise networks.
Well-Managed
SEERAD will commission a repeat survey of attitudes to regulation.
SEERAD, SFPA Catchers and Processors will support the work of the new Community Fisheries Control Agency to ensure a level playing field of enforcement across the EU.
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