Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/R007179/1
Netting the benefits for sustainable fisheries
Fellowship Award
- Fellow:
- Dr CS White, University of East Anglia, International Development
- Grant held at:
- University of East Anglia, International Development
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- Rural Livelihoods
- Sustainable development
- Nat Resources, Env & Rural Dev
- Geographies of sustainability
- Geography and environmental justice
- Geography of conservation
- Geography of environmental policy
- Geography of environmental resilience
- Environmental Geography
- Geographies of governance
- Political Geography
- Abstract:
- The development of a 'Fisheries Bill' was announced as part of the Queen's speech in June 2017. A new Fisheries Bill provides a key, 'once in a lifetime' opportunity for the United Kingdom and its devolved administrations to assume greater responsibility for fisheries in their territorial waters and to redesign the policies that underpin this. There are hopes within the industry and in many political circles, that these changes could lead to fisheries being managed more sustainably and equitably in the future, and that it might also lead to the regeneration of local economies in some coastal communities. In particular, the industry hopes that regaining sovereignty over UK waters will mean higher quotas being allocated to them. The total UK quota of each commercial species such as North Sea cod is currently decided each year in Brussels, based on 'relative stability' arrangements. However, these are based on historic fishing patterns that pre-date the Common Fisheries Policy (the late 1970s), and therefore do not match current fish distributions and catch compositions of UK vessels. A further source of perceived injustice for many in the UK fishing industry is how the UK itself allocates components of the overall quota to different fleets around the country. Over 95% of the quota is currently allocated to larger offshore boats because this sector was able to prove 'track record' through logbooks etc. when the Common Fisheries Policy was established in 1983. The inshore, smaller boats, which makes up over 80% of the UK's fishing boats had no legal obligation to report landings or to keep logbooks - and lost out as a result. The many discrepancies in quota allocation have caused tensions between larger and smaller boats. Clearly a dialogue is needed, regarding equitability of quota allocation in the UK. Whatever circumstances arise as a result of Brexit (whether the UK 'wins' high quotas or not), some system will be needed to divide up the total UK share. Changes to the current management system associated with Brexit and the new 'fisheries bill' mean that it is now time for renewed discussion about what the UK wants it's fishing fleet to look like in the future, setting out new criteria for quota allocation based on objective social, economic and environmental criteria. This placement will allow a collaboration between UEA and CEFAS focused on understanding fishermen's views regarding the apportionment of national quota shares, This work will focus on three regions: Norfolk, Suffolk and Devon. This placement's goal is to explore these complex issues through research and engagement with various sub-sectors of the fishing industry. This will help generate insights that will feed into future policy development, a topic that will become ever-more important once the overall geopolitical negotiations have concluded.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/R007179/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Knowledge Exchange Fellowships
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Innovation Placements
This fellowship award has a total value of £15,439
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Staff | Exception - T&S |
|---|---|
| £13,646 | £1,793 |
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