Resource management

Photo: Lowestoft harbour and wind turbine through the mist © M J Page The science in Resource Management (RM) is focused on understanding and assessing the impacts of human activities on the aquatic environment in order to better support, and inform, both policy and regulatory decisions for sustainable development.

Cefas’ science is delivered through two basic strands:

Impacts on Fishery Resources - Cefas’ scientists are continually updating and developing their suite of tools in order to study the status of aquatic resources, and to provide better predictions of the likely effects of fishery management decisions on both fish stocks and fishers.
Impacts of Other Human Activities - This covers the assessment of a range of other activities potentially affecting both living and non-living resources, including navigational dredging, disposal of dredged material, marine constructions (e.g. wind farms, coastal protection/sea defences, harbour works and outfalls), the extraction of marine aggregates (sand and gravels) from the seabed and the extraction of oil and gas from beneath the seabed.

Our science underpins the advice that we provide to a range of UK Government Departments, as well as non-Government organisations, overseas Governments, the European Commission and industry consortia. Additionally, Cefas also contributes to the UK’s national emergency response capability for oil and chemicals.