Chairman’s Report 2007

Fred Normandale reviews the main issues over the past year.

Introduction
This is the 30th anniversary of the NFFO. In April 1977, during the difficult and prolonged negotiations that led to the 1983 CFP settlement, fishermen on the east coast with support from the west and south, recognised that to have influence, fishermen south of the border would have to speak with one united voice. The result was the formation of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations. I am proud to say that I was at that first meeting.

Times have changed dramatically since then and our industry is barely recognisable from that of 30 years ago. What has not changed however, is the need for fishermen’s voices to be heard in the corridors of power in Whitehall and Brussels speaking in a firm, cohesive and credible manner. The fundamental reason for the NFFO’s existence is now more vital than ever, given the pressures our industry is now subjected to.

What has changed is the way in which the Federation’s intervenes in the political process. It remains vitally important to ensure that our ministers are well briefed and on our side before they go into Fisheries Council negotiations, but that is no longer enough. It is necessary to influence the policy formulation process at a much earlier stage. That is why the NFFO is actively taking advantage of opportunities for the industry’s views to be heard throughout the policy process – from stock assessments, to emerging policy where the RACs can now have a decisive influence.

Cod Recovery
EU cod recovery measures have dominated the December Council process for several years now, affecting fisheries well beyond those for whom cod is (or was) a major target species. The familiar annual cycle of cuts in the TACs and days at sea inflict serious pain on the industry but, despite encouraging signs of recovery in some cod stocks, we are still locked into a downward spiral with the decision makers seemingly in denial over the counter productive impact of their policies.

During last year the North Sea and North Western Waters RACs, pressed successfully for a fundamental review of the cod recovery plan, which is now underway. The Cod Symposium, held in Edinburgh in March 2007, was a landmark event which emphasised the RACs arrival as a major player in European fisheries politics. The mix of fishermen and world class experts provided a fruitful source of ideas on how the cod recovery plan could be improved and the RACS will shortly submit their advice on these improvements.

Despite the success of the symposium, all the signs are that the Commission remains wedded to the old formula of TAC reductions and days at sea cuts based on out of date information, rather than focusing on how to harvest the improved stock in the North Sea sustainably, without fishermen having to discard non quota fish that is being caught. This can only lead to less accurate catch information and perpetuate the downward spiral. Let’s not forget that we in NW Europe are fishing on the continental shelf, surrounded by abyss. The consumption of fish in Europe is rising by a significant proportion annually. We are pursuing a sustainable fishery with no added food miles involved. Unless the remaining whitefish fleet is able to harvest fish sustainably, as we are, the likelihood is that supplies will increasingly be acquired from unregulated, unsustainable sources.

The Federation will play a central role in the formulation of the RAC advice as the Review of the cod recovery plan unfolds this year.

Margin of Tolerance
The NFFO has taken the lead in pressing for a resolution to the wholly unacceptable 8% margin of tolerance between logbook and landing declaration, which is simply impossible for vessels to comply with on a consistent basis. At our request, DEFRA commissioned independent experts whose report has now confirmed that it is not possible, for a range of practical reasons, to meet such a narrow tolerance. The RACs, at NFFO request, have now written to the Director General, insisting that the matter is reviewed as a matter of urgency.

Minimum Landing Size for Bass
In a gesture to placate parts of the increasingly vocal angling lobby, the former Minister, Ben Bradshaw, against advice, pushed for an increase in the UK’s minimum landing size for bass to 40 cm. This would have put many small fishing enterprises out of business, resulted in 100,000 fish being discarded annually and would have made no contribution to enhancing the stock, a stock deemed by ICES fished sustainably.

The NFFO spearheaded the formulation of the Bass Action Group, chaired by Dave Pessell of Plymouth, which marshalled the evidence and presented the industry’s case to the Minister at a critical meeting on 14th April. As a result, the Statutory Instrument implementing the increase was pulled at the 11th hour whilst the Minister reviewed the new evidence presented by the Action Group. Our case was cast iron and we are delighted that new Minister Jonathan Shaw decided not to go ahead with the proposed increase. It simply did not make sense in a year when the European Commission had launched an initiative to reduce discards to introduce a regulation that would have increased discarding of a valuable species for no or minimal conservation benefit.

Fisheries Science
There is a recognition within the industry and the fisheries science community, that the first step towards effective fisheries management is agreement on the state of the stocks. At a range of levels, the scientific assessment process is being opened up to the industry. From the design and application of stock surveys, to the ICES assessment groups and the commissioning of new fisheries research, the Federation is now playing a vigorous and active role which will hopefully bring some reality into the stock assessment process.

The Fisheries Science Partnerships pioneered by the NFFO/DEFRA and CEFAS in 2003 are now being emulated in Scotland, Denmark and other member states. Partnerships remain the most effective way of addressing the industry’s concerns over the limitations and shortcomings of the science, where these exist.

We have come a long way from the days when scientists and fishermen simply shouted at each other at a set piece meeting each autumn but there is further to go. The ideal would be if fishermen were collecting the data using boats and gear they have faith in with scientific staff to collate and work up the findings. This would make for a better running, more efficient more reliable system. It is only when fishermen feel a sense of ownership of the science that they will be compelled to accept inevitable changes and take the mature decisions necessary.

Annual Fisheries Reports
One of the frustrations felt in the industry is that the knowledge, experience and insight held by fishermen is not fully taken into account by the scientists or fisheries managers. This is partly because fishermen’s knowledge is rarely presented in a systematic fashion and is often dismissed as “anecdotal.”

The NFFO has applied to DEFRA’s Fisheries Challenge Fund for funds that would allow industry organisations (producer organisations and fishermen’s associations) to capture the views of fishermen and present them in a coherent annual report that would be of use to scientists, DEFRA policy makers and regional advisory councils. The intention is that these fisheries reports will become an indispensable vehicle for the industry’s knowledge of the state of stocks and changes to the functioning of the management system. This would address the weakness in the current system which tends to be retrospective and out of touch with recent trends in the industry and fails to tap into the reservoir of knowledge in our industry. The scheme will be piloted this year, with full application in 2008.

Multiples
An important new trend has become visible over the last 12 months. This is the sensitivity of large multiple retailers to the “league table” approach by environmental NGOs. Whilst it is understandable that supermarkets will want to respond to a growing awareness of environmental concerns within society, this new form of competition has led to damaging bans on the sale of specific species on the basis of seriously inadequate evidence. During the year ASDA was forced to rescind an ill-considered ban on the sale of monkfish and, likewise, the sale of a wide range of skates and rays has been affected by conservation problems that actually only affect a few specific species.

The Federation has actively worked to ensure that the supermarkets’ enthusiasm for sourcing fish and shellfish from sustainable sources is founded on good information. At the same time, through its support for initiatives like the Seafish Responsible Fishing Programme, is helping the industry to adapt its priorities to this new era of traceability and responsible fishing.

Electronic Logbooks
The benefits of e-logbooks which will be required aboard vessels over 24 metres initially and vessels over 15 metres 18 months later will primarily fall to the fisheries managers rather to the industry. For this reason the Federation is pressing the Government to fund the not insubstantial costs of installing and running the new logbooks.

Review
The NFFO’s 30th birthday is an appropriate time to review the Federation’s activities to see whether any improvements can be made. Barry Edwards formerly from DEFRA and now the Federation’s Special Advisor, has prepared a thorough report and provided a range of options for change and these are currently under discussion.

Legal Status
During the year our Executive Committee concluded that it is timely to change the Federation’s legal status from a voluntary association to a company limited by guarantee. This will provide legal safeguards which it is prudent to have in place now that the Federation has significant assets.

Deep Water Gillnets
The NFFO has worked strenuously for a reopening of the deep water gillnet fishery on a managed and sustainable basis. Working through the NWW RAC, the blanket ban introduced in December 2005 was partially lifted for hake vessels during 2006, in part through NFFO efforts. A research project aimed at informing the debate on management measures for the deepwater monkfish fishery produced useful information, despite being hurriedly organised. Further research trips are now planned which will hopefully lead to a full opening of the fishery on terms acceptable to both the industry and fisheries managers.

Seafish
The failure to appoint a Seafish Board member from the mainstream catching sector south of the border creates a manifest distortion and imbalance. Seafish has now recognised the importance of demonstrating its relevance to the English, Welsh and Northern Irish catching sector and has agreed to place a secondee in the NFFO to support a range of Federation initiatives. The secondee’s role will be as a conduit between Seafish and the industry by preparing for the NFFO, evidence based position papers that, hopefully, will be influential at UK, EU level and in the RACs.

Marine Bill
The much heralded Marine Bill contains much that could affect fishing activities – for better and worse. Whilst the chaotic pattern of offshore developments, like windfarms and the expansion of aggregate dredging, are crying out for some element of coherent planning, there is a real danger that Marine Protected Areas could displace fishermen from customary grounds. Much will depend on how the powers under the new legislation are used. The Federation is preparing (through work on Marine Spatial Planning in the North Sea RAC) definitive charts that illustrate the areas of seabed of critical importance to fishermen in order to fight this battle effectively.

Shellfish
An important meeting of the NFFO Shellfish Committee was held in February when agreement was reached on a way forward on increasing the minimum landing size for crab and lobster. The Federation supports the principle of an increased MLS as an alternative to a ban on the landing of berried hens because of the difficulties in enforcing the latter and because of its heavy economic impact on some parts of the coast. The key feature of the Federation’s position is its emphasis on a regional approach which reflects the different biological characteristics in different areas. It also stresses the need for much stronger regulatory impact assessments on those parts of the coast where a high proportion of the catch would be affected. The regional approach allows those areas where an increase would not be a problem (or for any area outside the 6 mile limit) to forge ahead, whilst protecting those more vulnerable areas which need to move at a slower pace and perhaps use different management tools.

Salmon
The netsmen of the North East have, with the NFFO’s support resisted the multi-faceted assault by the riparian/angling lobby for 30 years. The Federation continues to support the remaining netsmen and is currently pressing hard for an extension to the season.

Maximum Sustainable Yield
All EU member states have signed up to the commitment made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, to move all depleted fish stocks to maximum sustainable yield by 2015. Through the RACs, the NFFO has been working to ensure that MSY (or some proxy of MSY) is achieved in ways that the fishing industry can live with. General principles have been agreed and now a series of meetings involving groups of fishermen and scientists are working up proposals on how to achieve MSY in their particular fisheries. In due course, these will be submitted to the Commission as long term management plans. This is seen as a preferable approach to waiting for the Commission to impose measures from on high.

NFFO Services Limited
Over the last two years the Federation’s Services Division has benefited from the increase in oil and gas exploration triggered by the high price of oil. The income generated by NFFO Services Ltd means that annual subscription rates can be held at a relatively low level. The NFFO Review is also likely to suggest ways in which the benefits generated by the company’s commercial activities can be more widely spread amongst the membership.
Let none of us forget that Services is the lifeblood of the Federation and we should give Dave Bevan and his team as much support as we can. We should also bear in mind that though the offshore work is at present booming, the oil and gas reserves around the UK are running out and the membership won’t always be able to count on Services in its present form to subsidise the running of our organisation.

Windfarms
The expansion of offshore windfarms poses a major problem for fishermen displaced by large numbers of wind turbines sited on their traditional fishing grounds. The system for siting windfarms in a manner which minimises disruption has been a dismal failure. The DTI’s FLOW group has not met expectations and contrasts extremely unfavourably with other liaison groups established to manage frictions between fishing, the oil and gas or cable industries.
This is worrying, not least because of the massive expansion of offshore windfarms envisaged for the future. The NFFO will continue to press for a balance between the development of effective renewable sources of energy offshore and fair treatment for fishermen affected by these developments.

Irish Sea Discards Project
A groundbreaking initiative in the Irish Sea has been supported by the NFFO and its member organisation the Anglo-North Irish Fish Producers Organisation. The aim is to provide accurate information on discarding in the nephrops fishery as a first step to designing measures to reduce discarding. Self-sampling by fishermen on board, with the incentive of extra days at sea is at the heart of the scheme. If successful, the self-sampling scheme will be a model available to other fisheries and as a guide to refine and improve management measures on the basis of accurate information.

Devolution
The election of the SNP coalition government in Edinburgh carries potentially serious consequences for UK fishermen outside Scotland. A different complexion government in London and Edinburgh is likely to put the devolution settlement under strain. It is also likely that fisheries will be an area in which the SNP believe that they can exert pressure on the existing constitutional arrangements without appearing to be irresponsible. Simply because of demographics, fishing has a higher political priority in Scotland, although it is important to appreciate that there are actually more UK fishing vessels and fishermen outside Scotland, and in terms of value of catch landed the gap is quite narrow.

Any attempts to gain disproportionate advantage will be strenuously resisted by the NFFO. We will continue to work closely with the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation for mutual benefits as we have done productively in the past.

In Conclusion
We owe much to the wise and respected men who saw the need for a national federation and fought hard to establish the NFFO. The challenges facing our industry, in many respects, have changed out of all recognition from those days. What remains the same is the need for fishermen to work together for common goals, to strike a balance between short-term economic viability and long term sustainability. We need good science and coherent, effective regulations. This underlines the importance of the work undertaken by the NFFO. Despite the difficulties and traumas faced by the industry over the past 30 years we can be proud of what our Federation is and what it has achieved.

We have, in our move to our new offices in York, positioned the Federation, in terms of both working space and transport links, to ensure that our work is done with maximum efficiency.