Fisheries Science Partnership (FSP)

Background

The Government announced in January 2003 a package of funding for the industry which included £1 million in 2003/2004 for fishermen and scientists to work in partnership. Following the announcement, the NFFO and Cefas cooperated intensively to develop a programme to improve knowledge of our fish stocks. A further £1m was provided for projects in 2004/2005.

The Government agreed a further £1m each year for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008.

Due to the national and international success of the programme, the government has recently announced a three-year, £3 million continuation of the Fishery Science Partnership with £1 million each year for 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/2011.

Objectives

The objectives of the programme are to build relationships between UK fishermen and scientists and to involve fishermen in the co-commissioning of science.

To achieve these objectives, the programme will:

1. provide information from commercial fishing catches on key stocks to supplement data sources traditionally used in ICES assessments; 
2. investigate concerns raised by fishermen on scientific assessments or on stocks not currently assessed;
3. investigate innovative scientific methods and or more selective/environmentally friendly fishing methods; and,  
4. support the work of Regional Advisory Councils.

Scope

Fishing vessels able to implement the projects in the programme will be eligible. The programme will mainly support projects focussing predominantly on the English fisheries.

Deliverables

The key deliverables for the programme are a set of projects which meet the objectives set out above. The projects will address priorities identified by the fishing industry and Regional Advisory Councils, and will be scientifically robust and valuable.