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This report describes the activities of the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency in relation to its main responsibilities for the enforcement of EU legislation contained in the Conservation, Quota and Control Regulations. It is aimed at a readership including government Ministers and Members of Parliament with constituency fishing interests, government officials, industry representatives and members of the general public who may share a concern for the ongoing viability of the fishing industry and the concomitant healthy state of fish stocks.
performance against targets
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Overall
the Agency achieved 8 of its 10 key targets, falling short only with
respect to the cost per hour on task for the surveillance aircraft and cash
releasing efficiency gains. This compares very favourably with performances
in previous years as new targets have been introduced and others set at
progressively more challenging levels. Their achievement reflects a most
creditable performance by the Agency as a whole and in particular by the
front line enforcement staff, at sea and ashore, whose contributions have
been as committed as ever.
making a difference The main focus of attention has been on combating the blackfish trade in checking the correct recording of areas of catch and proper declarations of quantities of individual species landed, particularly the demersal varieties. A combination of the introduction of new, more flexible inspecting routines by the shore-based fishery officers, better co-ordination and more targeted deployment of enforcement assets both at sea, in the air and ashore and the introduction, in January 1999, of designated landing ports and the prior notification of landing scheme, has had a most productive impact on the potentially very damaging effects of illegal catches and landings. Although problems persist in their regulation, much enforcement effort has also been directed towards the pelagic fisheries, principally through monitoring discharges ashore. The nephrop fishery, which has seen a large shift of traditional effort from the west coast to the North Sea in the last two years, has also been extensively covered. |
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a successful prosecution rate Over 1100 breaches of regulations were dealt with locally by Fishery Officers through the issue of formal written warnings. 123 cases of infringements were reported to the Agency's HQ, while a total of 93 cases were processed and forwarded to the Procurator Fiscal Service for prosecution. During the year 80 out of 88 cases completed in court were successfully prosecuted. The largest proportion of infringements (60%) involved the misreporting of areas where catches were made, down from 77% in the previous year to show a trend which reflects positively on the deterrent effect of enforcement effort targeted in this area. |
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Scottish
Fisheries Minister,
Lord Sewel with Fishery Officers James Milne and Derek Yuille at the Fishing '99 exhibition in Glasgow |
looking to the future
1999 sees fisheries management becoming a devolved matter for the Scottish Parliament. This coincides with the introduction of a
satellite-based surveillance system which becomes fully operational in January 2000 and which will provide an important and potentially very effective augmentation of enforcement capability. The Agency will
continue to play its part in pursuing EU initiatives aimed at developing and improving bilateral links with Other Member States and Third Countries, notably Norway.
P E Du Vivier
Chief
Executive
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performance measures |
1996 - 1997 |
1997 - 1998 |
1998 - 1999 |
1999 - 2000 |
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target |
actual |
target |
actual |
target |
actual |
target |
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| efficiency
measures aerial surveillance |
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percentage of hours flown on task |
85 |
86 |
85 |
86 |
86 |
86 |
86 |
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cost per flying hour on task (£) |
- |
- |
- |
- |
922 |
974 (a) |
951 |
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cost per aircraft sighting (£) |
88 |
82 |
82 |
85 |
- |
- |
- |
| marine surveillance | |||||||
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utilisation of effective patrol days (%) |
96 |
96 |
96 |
97 |
97 |
98 |
97 |
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cost per effective patrol day (£) |
- |
- |
- |
- |
3432 |
3181 |
3501 |
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number of boardings at sea |
2600 |
2413 |
2200 |
2264 |
- |
- |
- |
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cost per boarding (£) |
2590 |
2888 |
2685 |
2615 |
- |
- |
- |
| sea fisheries inspectorate | |||||||
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number of landing declarations checked against catches (%) |
- |
- |
40 |
44 |
45 |
47 |
46 |
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cost per catch inspection (£) |
- |
- |
- |
- |
72 |
71 |
78 |
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cost per logsheet check (£) |
64 |
66 |
65 |
76 |
- |
- |
- |
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cash releasing efficiency gains (%) |
2 |
3.5 |
2 |
2.5 |
2 |
1.4 (b) |
1.5 |
| Throughput prosecution cases reported: |
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within 6 weeks of offence (%) |
75 |
87 |
80 |
80 |
82 |
90 |
85 |
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within 8 weeks of offence (%) |
90 |
98 |
95 |
95 |
95 |
100 |
96 |
| quality | |||||||
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number of cases where court proceedings are taken as percentage of offences reported for prosecution (%) |
75 |
83 |
80 |
91 |
83 |
85 |
84 |
targets not met
(a) The cost per aircraft sighting target was not
met due to the loss of hours because of three bird strikes and delays in receiving
new parts.
(b) The target for cash releasing
efficiency gains was not met primarily because of success in achieving savings
in previous years. Scope for further savings is reducing.
Targets for 1999 - 2000 are set to meet the enforcement priorities as laid down in the Corporate Plan for the period 1999 - 2002.
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