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FISP projects: contracts awarded in round 3 of the scheme

Updated 17 July 2023

Organisations that have been awarded funding for contracts through FISP part B to carry out a full research project.

The following project summaries were provided by the applicants.

University of Plymouth Enterprise Ltd

In partnership with:

• Professional Boatman’s Association
• Natural England
• Southern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority
• Angling Trust

Name of project: Angling for Sustainability

Amount of award: £738,175

Length of project: 24 months

Project aims

Sharks, skates and rays, followed by black bream, are the most valued species for chartered boats operating out of the South inshore marine planning area. These species are data-limited and have complex life histories with reliance on specific sites for reproduction, which could make them vulnerable to overfishing. To ensure the sustainability and survival of their industry, Charter boat owners and regulators who co-founded this project will work with scientists to fill data-gaps needed for effective, informed management. Charter boat owners will deploy and maintain fish tracking equipment and coordinate groups of recreational anglers to assist with the fish tagging and tracking.

Action

The project will:

• establish a network of acoustic receivers across the Dorset and Solent region
• tag and track 200 black bream and 100 elasmobranchs: undulate ray, tope and smooth-hound
• train skippers and fisheries managers on data collection and equipment maintenance
• collect an 18 month data set of black bream and elasmobranch movements
• host stakeholder workshops to disseminate the project results

Expected outcome

1. Data on seasonal and daily movement for black bream and elasmobranchs with a focus on fishing hotspots and three MCZs, to establish migration patterns, site fidelity and the effect of angler disturbance during nesting.
2. To inform the conservation advice of the protected nesting black bream feature within the Dorset MCZs and protected shark and ray species within the Solent Marine Area.
3. To inform the FMPs for black bream & Southern North Sea and Channel skates and rays.
4. To inform future management of essential fish habitat areas to promote species recovery.

Status

Ongoing.

Seafish

In partnership with:

• Bangor University
• South Devon and Channel Shellfisherman Ltd
• Welsh Fisherman’s Association
• Devon and Severn IFCA
• Marine Management Organisation

Name of project: Filling the gap in crustacean evidence for English and Welsh FMPs

Amount of award: £861,517

Length of project: 24 months

Project aims

Support the development and delivery of four front-runner FMPs across England and Wales for data-limited brown crab and European lobster fisheries by addressing common evidence gaps critical to the development of robust stock assessments and evidence-based management regimes.

Action

Evidence gaps will be addressed by 4 interdependent work packages:

1. Landings structure of English and Welsh brown crab fisheries:

• collate and assess existing datasets to determine the relative contribution of different metiers/sectors of the fleet.

2. Size-structure of lobster populations:

• assess whether size-frequency analysis of landings reflects fisher knowledge
• investigate how non-stock factors influence size-frequency using fisher surveys, and onboard camera systems
• simulate how LCA outputs and size-based indicators are influenced by non-stock factors

3. Benthic impact of brown crab and lobster potting activities:

• map Welsh fishing effort using VMS / Catch app / logbook data
• assess acute impacts and fishing footprint using different surveys, ultra-short baseline (USBL) positioning system beacons, and accelerometers
• assess chronic impacts on benthic fauna and habitats at “reefy” sites using underwater camera transects

4. Durometer-based methodology for defining soft-shelled brown crab:

• analyse the effect of shell-hardness on meat yield and economic value in collaboration with fishers and processors
• fisher workshop to determine the range of durometer readings corresponding to a soft-shelled crab

Expected outcome

1. Establish a good understanding of fishing operations and biological processes for brown crab and lobster stocks.
2. Contribute to the delivery of the Sustainability, Ecosystem, and Scientific-evidence Objectives of the Fisheries Act 2020.
3. Strengthen co-management approaches and industry buy-in to management measures.

Status

Ongoing.

Substance

In partnership with:

• Cefas
• Angling Trust

Name of project: Marine Recreational Fisheries (MRF) survey

Amount of award: £772,921

Length of project: 24 months

Project aims

This project will undertake a year-long probabilistic survey of MRF in England and Wales. It will provide the best possible evidence on recreational catches, meet identified data gaps, and improve analysis beyond the life of the project.

Action

1. Enhance fisheries management through improved evidence on MRF catches.
2. Increase stakeholder and scientific confidence in MRF exploitation estimates.
3. Enhance partnerships between research and industry.
4. Provide statistically robust estimates of MRF exploitation in England and Wales.
5. Validate and understand bias in the Sea Angling Diary Project data to improve future analysis.
6. Publicise findings that will be of benefit to industry, science, policy, and local communities.

The survey approaches will improve upon the method undertaken in 2012 as a ‘gold standard’ in recreational fisheries data collection. Improvements will include the use of digital tools for data collection and quality, a co-design partnership between research and industry to ensure relevance, the engagement of hundreds of anglers as Volunteer Citizen Scientists, and the engagement of industry, policy and management stakeholders via a Project Steering Group. It will take place in England and Wales between 2023 and 2024.

Expected outcome

1. Improved data and estimates on non-quota & data-poor species to inform sustainable fishery management.
2. Generate robust data to inform FMPs and stock assessments, particularly for data-poor species.
3. Improved utility of the existing diary programme.
4. An angling community engaged in data collection through co-development of methods and citizen science, improving confidence in the current evidence base and fisheries management.

Status

Ongoing.

University of Plymouth Enterprise Ltd

In partnership with:

• Professional Boatman’s Association
• University of York
• Angling Trust

Name of project: Data collection and research on pollack

Amount of award: £859,400

Length of project: 24 months

Project aims

Pollack represents an economically and socially important fishery across the UK. Recreational and commercial fishers have highlighted a decline in Pollack (Pollachius pollachius) across the English Channel. ICES stock assessments have indicated that there is insufficient evidence to identify exploitation and population trends. Data collection is required on life history parameters, abundance, and spatial ecology, to ensure sustainability in commercial and recreational fisheries.

1. Collect abundance and biomass estimates across South West UK across two years to identify spatial and temporal trends.
2. Collect information on life history traits.
3. Identify spatial and temporal movements to identify migration routes and evidence essential fish habitats.

Action

1. The project’s Charter skipper consortium (10 boats) will collect CPUE, Length: frequency, size at age across study area
2. Movement and habitat use will be tracked via large scale acoustic telemetry array.
3. Fishers will be interviewed to identify common concerns and fisheries management recommendations.

Expected outcome

1. A scientifically robust evidence base will be developed to: inform the sustainable management of Pollack fisheries; provide an improved understanding of essential habitats; support the development of Fisheries Management Plans, and provide biological data to support stock assessments.
2. Increased engagement between commercial, recreational fishers, scientists and fisheries managers that will build trust in science.
3. The development of a case study for a fisher/industry-led project to collect evidence on a data limited species which can be up scaled to other fisheries.

Status

Ongoing.

Bangor University

In partnership with:

• British Geological Survey
• Orkney Fisheries Association
• Welsh Fisherman’s Association

Name of project: Impacts of Climate Change on the common Whelk

Amount of award: £397,312

Length of project: 24 months

Project aims

This project aims to understand the impacts of climate change on the commercially important, data-poor stock of the common whelk, Buccinum undatum to help ensure long-term socio-economic and environmental sustainability.

Action

Initial discussions were held with whelk fishers and Jim Evans (Welsh Fishermen’s Association) to ascertain areas of concern. This fisher knowledge combined with knowledge gained from Membership of the Whelk Management Group and existing experience within whelk research has led to the co-design of this project

Through shell isotope analysis to re-construct past temperature and growth, along with tank-based experiments on growth and survivability in whelk, they will aim to predict how growth rates differ by location and understand the impact of climate change on potential shifts in the growth, distribution and natural mortality of the species. They will also create temperature risk maps under climate change for whelk.

Expected outcome

Results from this project will further inform fisheries management and contribute to the Whelk Management Group’s (WMG) objective of improving long-term environmental and economic sustainability. The information gained from this project falls alongside the current Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) for Defra and Fisheries Act (2020) through current goals of understanding future impacts of climate change. By understanding natural mortality and behavioural disruptions under different climate change scenarios and how regional variations in growth rates may alter, we can review the current implementation of management mechanisms, to encompass and pre-empt potential disruptions to industry, so as to reduce the impact on social and environmental sustainability.

Status

Ongoing.