{"id":3095,"date":"2015-04-21T09:21:15","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T09:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scotland.gov.uk\/coastal-monitoring\/?p=3095"},"modified":"2018-12-05T16:49:33","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T16:49:33","slug":"the-importance-of-scotlands-observers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since the 1970\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Topics\/marine\/science\">Marine Scotland Science<\/a> 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 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Topics\/marine\/Sea-Fisheries\/19213\/fish-stocks\">health of fish stocks<\/a> 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 \u2013 the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Topics\/marine\/Sea-Fisheries\/discards\">discards<\/a> \u2013 most of which do not survive but nevertheless need to be taken account of in assessments of the mortality created by fishing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/04\/observers.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3115 alignleft lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/04\/observers.jpg\" alt=\"Marine Scotland Science Observers onboard\" width=\"322\" height=\"480\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 322px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 322\/480;\" \/><\/a>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 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Topics\/marine\/marine-environment\/species\/fish\/demersal\/cod\">cod<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Topics\/marine\/marine-environment\/species\/fish\/demersal\/haddock\">haddock<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Topics\/marine\/marine-environment\/species\/fish\/demersal\/whiting\">whiting<\/a>, collect ear bones or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Topics\/marine\/marine-environment\/ecosystems\/population\/otolith\">otoliths<\/a> which are examined to determine the age of the fish. Following processing, these data are then submitted to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ices.dk\/Pages\/default.aspx\">ICES (the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea)<\/a>\u00a0and combined with similar material collected in other countries to provide overall catch information, that are used in international assessments of the fish stocks.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s 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 \u2013 an EU regulation arising from the CFP (Common Fisheries Policy) which will eventually require fishermen to land all catches of fish species managed by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Topics\/marine\/Sea-Fisheries\/19213\/TAC\">TACs (Total Allowable Catches)<\/a>. This regulation creates numerous challenges and to help address these a good understanding of current catch profiles is essential \u2013 observers are at the forefront of providing this.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the 1970\u2019s 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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,14,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-msc","category-general","category-mss"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers - Marine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers - Marine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since the 1970\u2019s 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...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Marine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-21T09:21:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-05T16:49:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marine Directorate Communications\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marine Directorate Communications\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marine Directorate Communications\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#\/schema\/person\/3e5abb68fa165c0be2defdb04924af0a\"},\"headline\":\"The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-21T09:21:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-05T16:49:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/\"},\"wordCount\":399,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/04\/observers.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Compliance\",\"Marine Directorate general\",\"Marine Directorate Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/\",\"name\":\"The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers - Marine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/04\/observers.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-21T09:21:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-05T16:49:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#\/schema\/person\/3e5abb68fa165c0be2defdb04924af0a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/04\/observers.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/04\/observers.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/\",\"name\":\"Marine\",\"description\":\"Scottish Government Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#\/schema\/person\/3e5abb68fa165c0be2defdb04924af0a\",\"name\":\"Marine Directorate Communications\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/923\/923709b122ec3d09120a4b45b3a3e6dcx96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/923\/923709b122ec3d09120a4b45b3a3e6dcx96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Marine Directorate Communications\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/author\/lyndsaycruickshank\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers - Marine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers - Marine","og_description":"Since the 1970\u2019s 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...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/","og_site_name":"Marine","article_published_time":"2015-04-21T09:21:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-12-05T16:49:33+00:00","author":"Marine Directorate Communications","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marine Directorate Communications","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/"},"author":{"name":"Marine Directorate Communications","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#\/schema\/person\/3e5abb68fa165c0be2defdb04924af0a"},"headline":"The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers","datePublished":"2015-04-21T09:21:15+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-05T16:49:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/"},"wordCount":399,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/04\/observers.jpg","articleSection":["Compliance","Marine Directorate general","Marine Directorate Science"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/","name":"The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers - Marine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/04\/observers.jpg","datePublished":"2015-04-21T09:21:15+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-05T16:49:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#\/schema\/person\/3e5abb68fa165c0be2defdb04924af0a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/04\/observers.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2015\/04\/observers.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/2015\/04\/21\/the-importance-of-scotlands-observers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Importance of Scotland\u2019s Observers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/","name":"Marine","description":"Scottish Government Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#\/schema\/person\/3e5abb68fa165c0be2defdb04924af0a","name":"Marine Directorate Communications","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/923\/923709b122ec3d09120a4b45b3a3e6dcx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/923\/923709b122ec3d09120a4b45b3a3e6dcx96.jpg","caption":"Marine Directorate Communications"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/author\/lyndsaycruickshank\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/marine-scotland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}