Science in Support of Sustainable Fishery Management

Description of impact

Sustainable fishery management depends on high quality scientific evidence. HWU support has provided critical leadership and acquisition of underpinning information on fishery/stock trends. Biological studies filled key knowledge gaps to understand responses to fishing pressure and sustainable exploitation limits. Fishing gear studies supported sustainable practice.

A Fishery Improvement Project and knowledge/skills transfer to industry (more broadly) has demonstrated sustainable practice and thereby providing benefit from market access to major retailers. Impacts are regional (Orkney), as well as national and international through export of science and good practice. Beneficiaries include fishers, local communities, fisher representative bodies, local/national government agencies, a charity and wider international stakeholder groups.

Who is affected

Fishers, local communities, fisher representative bodies, local/national government agencies, a charity and wider international stakeholder groups.

Narrative

Heriot-Watt University’s scientific support for sustainable fisheries in Orkney has reportedly added in the region of GBP1,000,000 to the value of the brown crab fishery (Orkney Sustainable Fisheries Chair, pers. comm.) by strengthening the market position with quality retailers such as M&S, Waitrose, Aldi and Tesco and providing resilience to the impacts of Covid-19 (Orkney Fishermen’s Society General Manager, in litt.). Orkney is second only to Shetland in terms of employment in the Scottish fisheries sector, with 291 fishers operating in the inshore fishery. A further 130 workers are employed in the processing sector. Landings into Orkney, mostly shellfish, are worth GBP9,000,000 at first sale value (Scottish Government, sea fisheries statistics 2019), around GBP5,000,000 of which is brown crab; this value is doubled through the local processing sector. Over GBP400,000 of grant funding to the fishing industry, supported by HWU science, has resulted in 4 new market opportunities identified, 36 instances of new market opportunities being identified, 22 instances of fisheries communities being enhanced, 12 diversification measures developed.

Working with high profile stakeholders such as Marks & Spencer (M&S) and WWF-UK, the work has underpinned a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) for the Orkney creel fishery for brown crab. A FIP is a stepwise programme of work aimed at improving a fishery to meet the Marine Stewardship Council sustainable fishery standard. The Orkney FIP was the first in the UK, and the first anywhere to use the Marine Stewardship Council’s benchmarking and monitoring tool. The FIP was completed in 2017, providing the baseline for underpinning science and research activities that have continued throughout 2014-2020. The project was supported by M&S Spencer, WWF-UK, The Crown Estate (though the Orkney Shellfish Project) and Orkney Islands Council, and involved close collaboration with Marine Scotland (both Science and Policy divisions) and seafood industry representatives, and has been seen as a flagship project at an EU level through the Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) programme.

Through demonstrating continuing progress towards sustainability, the FIP has enabled access to markets that demand seafood products with high standards of sustainability, and has thus underpinned fishers’ and processors’ livelihoods in Orkney (through the fishermen’s cooperative Orkney Fishermen’s Society). Plan A, which is a commitment by M&S to tackle issues of climate change, waste, resources, fair partnerships and health, has been crucial to this process: M&S has provided support, guidance and publicity for the FIP, and the resultant categorisation by WWF as ‘Sustainable Practices in Place’ has allowed the retailer to market Orkney brown crab as a flagship product. The M&S Fisheries & Aquaculture Sourcing Manager stated, “

“Heriot-Watt’s scientific support for this project….has been a crucial element of this work. The FIP, and hence our retail of Orkney crab as a responsibly sourced product, has been made possible through Heriot-Watt support”.

Substantial progress has been made in underpinning Orkney fisheries with robust evidence in support of sustainable development, 128 fishing vessels operate out of Orkney, 85% engaging in creel fishing. HWU has supported OSF in implementing data collection for the creel fleet, initiating long-term data series on stock and fishery trends, starting 2009-2012. Spatial records of catch data provide a resource for marine energy developers in planning to minimise interactions with fisheries in leasing areas for renewable energy development in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters. Research into regionally applicable biological and fishery parameters provide a basis for rigorous modelling of sustainable limits (note 2017 report on harvest control in brown crabs). Ongoing work by OSF and HWU on movement patterns in brown crab is determining geographical stock structure, crucial for stock assessment and regionally appropriate fishery management.

Given the substantial development of the scientific evidence base for Orkney fisheries, the main barrier to fully demonstrate fishery sustainability in Orkney (and other Scottish Marine Regions) is governance. Presently, fishery management at a national level is limited largely to technical measures such as use of minimum legal size for non-quota species, and rests centrally with Marine Scotland. Scottish Government intends a move towards regional fishery management in the inshore; thanks to development of data, science and the skills base, Orkney fisheries are well prepared to lead the way in developing and implementing such management through the RIFG. Scientific underpinning for industry-led sustainable fisheries initiatives, supported by HWU, is having a significant impact on placing this direction of development firmly on the political agenda.

Orkney shellfish research, through the brown crab FIP and related work, is closely engaged with industry (catching, processing and retail sectors), NGOs (principally WWF), local government (Orkney Islands Council), the fisheries science community (ICES Working Groups on crabs and scallops) and regulators (Marine Scotland Science and Marine Scotland Policy). More widely, the Orkney science has been used in educational workshops designed for fishermen (Introduction to Sustainable Fishing) delivered in part by Kaiser through the charity Fishing into the Future (Kaiser is a trustee from 2019).

Impact status	Achieved
Impact date	1 Aug 2013 → 31 Dec 2020
Category of impact	Economic, Environmental
Impact level	National