Introduction

The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, agreed in June 2013, has been portrayed as a turning point in the history of European Fisheries.

It’s true that the EU landings obligation/discard ban, the centrepiece of the reform, will involve a radical reorientation of arrangements that have been in place since the CFP came into force 30 years ago. At this stage there is a great deal of uncertainty about what the landings obligation will actually mean in terms of vessel operations and viability. Equally, we don’t know what the new regime will mean for us in terms of quota management, or technical measures, the availability of exemptions, enforcement or additional reporting requirements. Worryingly, we don’t know whether the change will mean lower or higher fishing mortality. Working through these issues will be central to the Federation’s work in the next eighteen months and beyond.

However, despite these changes, there is a much more significant turning point in the CFP and it is reflected vividly in the ICES scientific advice. The graph below provides a powerful illustration that the real turning point in European fisheries came in the year 2000, at least insofar as the North East Atlantic is concerned.

Trends in Fishing Mortality (Fishing Pressure) ICES

The dramatic fall in fishing mortality from the year 2000 portrayed here, is by far the most significant factor in shaping our future as an industry and as a fisheries policy. The graph:

• covers all of the main species groupings
• refers to the whole of the North East Atlantic
• shows that after something like 70 years of incremental increases in fishing mortality, fishing pressure has been drastically reduced

There are multiple causes for this radical change. For the demersal fisheries, the painful measures taken to rebuild the cod stocks will have played a central part; but landing controls, better selectivity, industry mindset, collaboration between scientists and fishermen, long term management plans and capacity reduction, along with twenty or thirty other factors, have all contributed. Probably the most significant has been the reduction in the size of the fleets.

This change carries the most profound consequences. Stocks are rebuilding, some spectacularly, as illustrated by North Sea plaice and Northern hake below.

North Sea Plaice (ICES) and Northern Hake (ICES)

In the North Sea, natural mortality is now more significant than fishing mortality. This means that predation patterns are therefore much more significant than previously and this poses major new challenges for fisheries management. All of this needs to be taken into account in the development of the new generation of multi-annual management plans.

Media Lag

The reduction in fishing mortality is part of a package of very good news for fishing. Stocks are rebuilding. Fishermen are sharing knowledge with, and working in partnerships, with scientists. Aspects of the reform, particularly regionalisation of policy open the prospect of a much more flexible and responsive CFP.

The mainstream media however seems stuck in a catastrophe narrative inwhich fishing is automatically associated with collapsing fish stocks, overfishing and illegality. Who could forget the Sunday Times announcement that there were only 100 adult cod left in the North Sea? (the correct figure by the way was 23 million); something subsequently lampooned by the BBC as the “ most inaccurate headline in history.”

Breaking this media obsession with negative reporting and unjustified attacks on the reputation of the fishing industry has been one of our main initiatives over the course of the year, in partnership with communications experts Acceleris. Quickly rebutting unjustified assertions but going beyond this to present a series of positive messages that are picked up and repeated by the media has at least begun to turn the tide of hostile, and often lazy, media coverage. We have, as a result of our efforts, had many successes in having the industry portrayed in a fairer and more balanced way. Some of the highlights have been Megavissy fisherman, David Warwick, talking on Drive Time Radio to 6 million listeners about his life as a fisherman; Radio 4’s Today programme discussing rebuilding cod stocks, and our initiative with celebrity chef Mitch Tonks, using the conservation status of hake and its superb eating qualities to broaden the discussion to the more generally improving stocks situation.

Fleet Diversity

One unmissable characteristic of the NFFO’s membership is its diversity. The continuum of vessel sizes from under-10 metre beach-launched boats working close to shore, to large freezer trawlers harvesting the pelagic and demersal stocks in international waters and often hostile environments are all represented – and every size in between. Nephrops trawlers, gill-netters, beam trawlers, whitefish freezers, whitefish trawlers, seine netters, inshore potters, drift netters, scallopers, hand-liners, long-liners, shrimpers, whelkers, fly- shooters, twin-riggers, nephrops freezers, multi-riggers, inshore trawlers, tuna longliners, cocklers, rod and liners, large crabbers, fast potters, inshore netters pelagic trawlers and RSW vessels.

Organisationally, we are in producer organisations, the non-sector and under-10m pool; in large and small constituent associations or none.

Skippers range in age from their late teens to their 80s.

The diversity of fleet ownership is reflected too, from single vessel owners, family owned boats, to corporate groups. And reflecting the international ownership of the contemporary fleet, we have English, Welsh, Northern Irish, Anglo-Dutch, Anglo-Spanish and Anglo-Icelandic members. All are welcome members of the NFFO.

One might think that representing such diversity would be a weakness. But the opposite is true. The NFFO is held together by one single idea – that we are better unified and strong than divided and weak. Our shared interest is in defending fishing from bureaucratic mismanagement and media misrepresentation. Our Executive Committee reflects the diversity of our membership and we all have an interest in covering each other’s back. Greenpeace’s attack on the NFFO last year bounced off because apart from being poorly researched and inaccurate, it was transparently an attempt to split the industry and set fishermen against fishermen.

Mutuality – providing support for those who need it, when they need it – and expecting and getting that support back is what the Federation is all about. And if we are the most respected, influential, fishermen’s organisation in the country, then that is the reason.

Marine Protected Areas

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest challenges facing the fishing industry today is the Government’s drive to establish a network of marine protected areas in UK waters. The displacement of fishing activity from MPAs is a real potential threat to livelihoods and, especially when the process is driven by environmental fundamentalism rather than a focused and balanced conservation agenda.

The Federation has played a central role of the in establishing the MPA Fishing Coalition, which brings together a wide range of fishing interests who are equally concerned about the threat posed to their customary fishing grounds. Under the chairmanship of Dr Stephen Lockwood, MPAC has effectively held government, and its statutory conservation advisors, to account during the process of designation. It is now working on the management regime within designated sites, whether domestic or European.

MPAC can fairly claim to have obliged the authorities to examine their protocols for gathering evidence used in designation, seen the departure of the most gung-ho personalities, and even seen the NGOs abandon their position of a rushed, evidence-free approach to designation. The rational and evidence-based process now in the main followed by Defra, the MMO and IFCAs, owes much to the corrective work of MPAC. There is much more work to do and for as long as that work is required the NFFO will be one of the main pillars of MPAC. MPAC readily acknowledges the widespread support that it has received from fishing organisations across the UK and in other member states.

Lifejackets

The Federation made the decision last year to coordinate the purchase and distribution of 1000 personal floatation devices to fishermen. With EFF grant and Seafish support it has been possible to provide the PFDs for £10 each. To our delight the initiative has been replicated by others associated with the fishing industry. Hopefully, this will be a landmark in the use of lightweight PFDs on deck and more generally, the building of a strong safety culture within the industry.

Electronic Logbooks

The EU requirement to transfer from paper to e-logbooks for recording catch at sea has been mishandled by both Defra and the MMO. As a legal requirement, with substantial penalties for non-compliance, both policy and delivery arms of Defra owe a duty of care to the industry which has not been forthcoming. A series of technical issues, communications failures and inadequate industry guidance has left many fishermen stressed and out of pocket. There was an assumption that equipment suppliers could be relied on to sort our difficulties as they arose and as time has moved on it has been abundantly clear that this was a hugely over-optimistic assumption. The Federation raised the problem a number of times at national level and has been active in arranging meetings at port or regional level where the problems faced have been properly aired. It is vital that this is done in time before the additional reporting requirements associated with the landings obligation fall on us.

Shellfish

Shellfish is a vitally important resource for a range of coastal and offshore vessels. The Federation’s Shellfish Committee has produced well thought through and balanced recommendations which are slowly making their way into policy. Capping effort at the high capacity end of the fleet whilst keeping flexibility at the bottom end has been a key part of the Committee’s work. The crab and lobster fisheries are vital for the under-10 fleet. These fisheries benefit from the fact that all returns to the sea survive and so “discarding” is a positive benefit that has been enhanced by V-notching.

The Federation has also been an active partner in the Acrunet Project, which aims to lay the foundations for a profitable and sustainable shellfish sector by working with international partners.

Winter Storms

The Federation prides itself on being responsive to fishermen’s concerns as they arise. The virtually unprecedented series of winter gales which caused widespread infrastructure damage also prevented thousands of fishermen from earning a living over the winter months. The Federation met with Fisheries Minister, George Eustice, on 27th February to press for a package of support for those affected. A package was announced on 3rd March and the Federation has been monitoring it subsequently to minimise bureaucratic hurdles to successful access to the support which is primarily aimed at lost static gear.

Advisory Councils/ Regionalisation of the CFP

A great deal of effort and resources has been put by the NFFO into working within the regional advisory councils, since they were first established in 2004. Holding a privileged position within the EU consultative system, the advisory councils have proven their worth as a place where mature deliberation can be given to fisheries policy with other stakeholders, before considered pieces of advice are prepared. The RACs have been regarded as the most successful component of the 2004 CFP reform and it is in no small part because of this positive experience that the regionalisation agenda within the CFP has moved forward. Member states may now cooperate in policy formulation at regional seas level and their recommendations go forward for adoption through the European legislative system. This cumbersome process is not ideal but it does offer the prospect of moving gradually away from the prescriptive micro-management that has characterised the CFP in the past. It is a little early to say how the advisory councils will fit into this new process but there is one thing clear: the optimum means to arrive at sensible and workable fisheries policy is to have the three main players in the room together when decisions are made – fisheries managers, fisheries stakeholders and fisheries scientists. With some luck and good judgement this is the direction in which the bulk of fisheries policy will now move. The alternative, of detailed policy decisions made under by co-decision between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament is unthinkable, like a distillation of the worst aspects of the past.

Under-10m Fleet

The Federation, during 2013, helped to shift the terms of a sterile and divisive debate about quota shares onto a focused discussion on means to increase access to those under-10m vessels which faced acute quota shortage. By focussing on the class of vessel, area and species in which the problems were faced, the Federation successfully signposted a way forward. For the larger class of super-under-10s, dependent more or less exclusively on quota species, this lies with closer cooperation with the quota managers within producer organisations who have the skills and contacts to access quota when it is needed. The Ramsgate Pilot project confirmed the value of a collaborative approach for the higher catching under 10s (about 160 vessels, 14% of the under-10m fleet.) For the rest of the under-10m fleet, the facility to change target species as local abundance waxes and wanes is the preeminent need and the quota pool arrangement accommodates this well.

There will always be, we suppose, those outside the industry who seek to exploit divisions within the industry, and there will always be a few gullible souls attracted to conspiracy theories and victimhood. The Federation’s approach – to focus on the real quota pinch-points, the reasons for them and what might realistically be done to resolve them – offers instead hope of steady improvement, through collaboration and dealing with real rather that imaginary issues.

The inshore fleet faces many issues ahead. With limited range, inshore vessels are more exposed if displaced from their customary fishing grounds by marine protected areas or infrastructure projects like offshore wind. They too will be affected by the landings obligation. Despite the difficulties of geography, it is important that the inshore fleets fully participate in the Federation through our regional committee structure and ensure that their voices are heard at the highest level.

Devolution and Independence

Whichever way the Scottish referendum vote goes on the 18th September, it will be important for fishermen in the rest of the UK to ensure that any settlement – an independent Scotland, devo-max, or a continuation of the status quo – is not to their detriment. The Federation in 2008 successfully fought off SNP plans for a Scottish quota management system that would have had significant adverse effects on other UK vessels. In the end this manoeuvre turned out to be something of a self-inflicted wound as quota fled Scotland as a result. But it did provide a warning and the Federation will be alert to a repeat, or the trading of fishing interests to secure benefits elsewhere, should the political temperature be turned up immediately pre or post referendum.

NFFO Services Limited

Our commercial division, NFFO Services Limited, plays an important role in the offshore liaison and the provision of fishing vessels as guard vessels. Emerging from the necessary dialogue between fishing and other seabed users – especially big infrastructure projects like oil and gas pipelines, submarine cables or offshore renewable energy – NFFO Services provides a service which ensures clear and direct communications before, during and if necessary, after the construction phase. With more than 30 years experience, NFFO was a pioneer and remains the leader in the field of offshore communication and liaison.

Training Trust

NFFO services Limited has generously supported the NFFO Training Trust, a registered charity, which provides grants for young fishermen’s training and certification, safety equipment and the education of the public about the realities of fishing.

Safety and Training

The Fishing Industry Safety Group, where regulator and fishermen meet to develop practical and workable safety has initiatives has been active for many years. From time to time it is healthy to revamp arrangements and so it is with FISG which is currently under discussion to give it a firmer edge in developing a safety culture within the industry. We welcome Robert Greenwood who has taken over from Jim Hudson as the Federation’s Safety and Training Officer and wish Jim well in his well earned retirement.

Salmon

The small commercial salmon and trout fishery off the coast of North East of England has for many years been the focus of attempts by powerful landed and riparian owners to force its closure. It has only been the tenacious defence of the fishery by the netsmen themselves, with the vigorous support of the Federation that explains its survival into the 21st century. Well managed and with minimal impact, ministers’ decision to speed up the phase-out of the drift net fishery and curbs on the T&J net fishery owes everything to cronyism and the influence of powerful groups – and nothing to rational conservation or fairness. It is a blot on this Government’s record.

Conclusion

A report like this can only provide an overview, a flavour, of the Federation’s work, which covers many issues that it has not been possible to mention today. I could have discussed the review of fishing vessel licensing, the Commission’s consultation on technical conservation, the marine strategy framework directive or our ongoing work with scientists in the Fisheries Science Partneship projects. All of these issues and many others are vitally important, either to the fishing industry as a whole, or small or large groups within it.

The point is that fishermen have an organisation that is theirs, and is working on their behalf the whole year round. Without an organisation, the industry would be at the whim of politicians, media distortions, the swivel-eyed end of the environmental movement and the bureaucracy in Brussels.

Value it. Be part of it and above all make sure that it knows your views.

Paul TrebilcockNFFO Chairman