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The report presents the outcome of a feasibility study, supported by Seafsh, for developing an aquaculture and fsheries research and development centre at a laboratory facility in Brixham. (formerly AstraZeneca’s, but transferred to Plymouth University two years ago). The proposed concept was a full-service operation that could support the UK seafood industry - including fsheries and aquaculture supply chains - with market-led research, development and analytics capabilities.

The evidence and data requirements for the designation and subsequent monitoring of MPAs place significant logistical and economic burden for official bodies. This report demonstrates how the fishing industry can play an integral role in marine monitoring and evidence collection using underwater video surveys as a model. Collaborative surveys are shown to have mutual benefits in terms of cost and efficiency savings, knowledge transfer and relationship building.

At the Marine Farming Unit, Ardtoe, a system was developed for the intensive culture of Tisbe holothuriae, based on the tray batch culture system described by Støttrup & Norsker (1997). Culture was carried out in 20l plastic trays stored in racks, lit by fluorescent lights and maintained at a temperature of approximately 20ºC.

This report provides a national strategic overview of the findings and recommendations 2. provided in the 9 IFCA specific Strategic Sustainability Reviews which were the primary focus of Stage 3 of Project Inshore. In addition, the national overview report provides the opportunity to highlight those stocks which straddle the inshore boundary (6nm) and have therefore not been the focus of the IFCA specific reports.

Fish processors are facing dramatic increases in costs for discharging their effluent. This results from EU environmental legislation and may threaten the viability of many processing businesses. However, there is scope for processors to considerably reduce both the quantity and strength of their effluent and so minimise the increases in costs.

The study covered fisheries from northwest Norway through the North Sea, English Channel/la Manche, Cantabrian Sea and Algarve to the French Mediterranean. It was carried out as a series of tasks. Task 1, preparation, involved reviewing each partner’s national fisheries and establishing liaison groups of fishermen and other industry members; Task 2, quantifying lost gear, required the partners to interview fishermen to establish their experiences of gear loss and then the survey the areas where losses were reported; Task 3, physical evolution, started with the retrieval of ‘naturally lost’ gears and then moved on to a series of exercises simulating gear loss and monitoring how the ‘lost’ gears changed over time; Task 4, ecosystem impacts, involved interpreting catch data from the experimental gears, raising the data to métier level and comparing the results to targeted commercial catches; Task 5, mitigating measures, established a sub-group to look at the ways in which gear loss is treated elsewhere, matched those approaches to the European fisheries and assessed the likely benefits of alternate strategies; Task 6, ran throughout the project and involved industry liaison, reporting and other dissemination. The work required a relatively high level of industry liaison. In practical terms this meant that each national partner set up a national advisory group (NAG) to guide the work and to ensure that the sea trials and recommendations were representative and realistic. The NAGs were mainly made up of experienced skippers but also included net riggers and other professionals as appropriate. This report, wherever possible, follows the sequence of tasks described above.

Since 2012 there is a cap on the annual number of days at sea that 15m and over scallop vessels can dredge in ICES Area 7, as part of the Western Waters Management Regime (WWMR). In response to requests by industry and government, Seafish analysed the economic performance of UK vessels that dredge for king scallops in Area 7. The analysis uses fishing activity and economic data of UK vessels that landed any amount of king scallops from Area 7 during a calendar year from 2008 to 2015.

Mortalities of larger, more valuable cockle 2 and 3 year-classes have recurred on the Burry Inlet (Loughour) Estuary (BI) since 2002 and on the nearby Three Rivers Estuary (TR) since 2005. The aim of this report is to estimate the economic impact of the mortality on the south Wales cockle industry, related businesses and wider Welsh economy. Stakeholder interviews, direct observation, secondary literature, production and price data supplied by industry and government agencies is used to characterise value-chains, historic livelihood, regulatory and production trends.

The fish processing industry has a long-standing tradition and is of key importance to regional UK economies. This report presents an overview and detailed analysis of the fish processing industry with particular emphasis on the sea fish processing sector. The analyses contained in this report utilise the latest UK seafood processing industry information, which is gathered and managed by Seafish Economics, namely 2014 Census data, 2012 Financial Survey data and qualitative research data gathered in late 2014 – early 2015.

This report provides an overview of the UK seafood processing industry. The report describes the industry structure, employment and characteristics, the supply and sales situation along with issues such as business management and the environment. The report also provides an analysis of the financial performance of the processing industry. This report is the latest in a series of reports undertaken every four years by Seafish.

This study (SIPF Project D123) looks at the merits of the various tools and systems used elsewhere to manage sectors involved with Brown Crab fisheries, such as; access restrictions, pot limitations, shellfish licences and permits, quotas and TACs, Minimum Landing Sizes and gear technology, and considers their utility in managing Brown Crab stocks in UK and Ireland.

This report combines three sources of information to help inform industry and Seafish about the potential impacts of the Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) network on fishing through using; 1) the information provided by the four MCZ projects, 2) JNCC and NE advice to the government and 3) the four regional MCZ socio-economic impact assessments (SEIAs). The SEIAs show the potential annual value of fish landings that might be affected if potential MCZs are managed in a way that restrict fishing.