7 July 2023
The final day of Maritime Safety Week 2023 sees the launch of a new partnership to improve safety in commercial fishing. The partnership has been established between The Seafarers’ Charity and the National Federation of Fisherman’s Organisations (NFFO) and formalised by a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at ensuring collaboration on a range of industry led initiatives to improve fishing safety.
The new partnership sees The Seafarers’ Charity and NFFO utilising their specialist skills and resources for the broader benefit of the commercial fishing sector. The Seafarers’ Charity is a leading maritime funder of safety initiatives and welfare services for people working at sea. The Charity brings its funding resources, collaborative approach and convening powers to the partnership; which will be informed by the NFFO’s representation and specialist knowledge of the fishing industry in England and Wales.
The formalisation of a partnership builds on The Seafarers’ Charity co-funding with the NFFO of their Risk, Safety & Training Lead post held by Charles Blyth. The post has already been co-funded by the two partners since May 2022 and the Charity recently agreed a further two year funding commitment into 2025. In addition to funding this key role, the two organisations have committed to collaborating on various initiatives and projects that will contribute to raising awareness and understanding of safety management practices.
The promotion of safe working practices is a key part of the work of NFFO. The Federation has representation on many maritime safety groups within the United Kingdom and Europe and engages on the world stage at the IMO and ILO. Mike Cohen, NFFO Chief Executive explained their strategy, ‘The NFFO is helping members, skippers and crews to manage risk at sea on their vessels, to ensure their vessels are operated in the safest way possible and that crews are properly trained and receiving the best welfare provision. Joint initiatives, developed with support from The Seafarers’ Charity, provides us with additional resources to take forward new and innovative projects which will make a significant contribution to improving fishing safety for many more than just our members.’
CEO of The Seafarers’ Charity, Deborah Layde said: ‘I am delighted that we are able to do even more to support improvements in safety and welfare for people working in UK fishing and that these are industry led initiatives. The MOU signed with the NFFO formalises a long-term working relationship and collaboration which is already providing much needed help and guidance to many fishing vessel owners across the whole of the UK and there will be more to come as the partnership continues over the next two years.’