Marine

The Importance of Scotland’s Observers

April 21, 2015 by Marine Directorate Communications No Comments | Category Compliance, Marine Directorate general, Marine Directorate Science

Since the 1970’s Marine Scotland Science has maintained a team of individuals, Observers, who participate in fishing trips all around the Scottish coast. Information collected from commercial catches in Scotland provide valuable data on the health of fish stocks and future catching opportunities. Some of this can be gathered in fish markets but in order to fully understand the composition of what has been caught, rather than simply landed ashore, it is necessary to undertake sampling at sea on board fishing vessels. Of particular importance are the observations made of the unwanted components of the catch which are thrown back into the sea – the discards – most of which do not survive but nevertheless need to be taken account of in assessments of the mortality created by fishing.

Between 60 and 90 trips are made annually to cover fishing operations in the North Sea and West of Scotland looking at whitefish or Nephrops. Observers monitor the amount of each species caught and discarded, take measurements of the size composition and, for a selected group of species including cod, haddock and whiting, collect ear bones or otoliths which are examined to determine the age of the fish. Following processing, these data are then submitted to ICES (the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) and combined with similar material collected in other countries to provide overall catch information, that are used in international assessments of the fish stocks.

In more recent years, the role of Observer has extended to provide observations on the performance of vessels employing special conservation measures as part of the EU Cod Recovery Plan. To cover the expanding remit, Marine Scotland has provided funding for additional observers managed by the SFF (Scottish Fishermen’s Federation). Working collaboratively with the MSS observers in a sampling scheme, the additional SFF observer is making a valuable contribution to improving our knowledge on the fate of what is caught by the fishing fleets. The value of this information has become even more evident with the advent of the Landing Obligation – an EU regulation arising from the CFP (Common Fisheries Policy) which will eventually require fishermen to land all catches of fish species managed by TACs (Total Allowable Catches). This regulation creates numerous challenges and to help address these a good understanding of current catch profiles is essential – observers are at the forefront of providing this.

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