The Fisheries Management and Innovation Group

The Fisheries Management and Innovation Group brings people together to discuss and share knowledge on catching sector issues.

This group was formerly the Discard Action Group (DAG) and was originally set up as a forum for the discussion of industry-wide problems relating to discards.

The FMIG provides a safe meeting space to discuss the key challenges facing the catching sector. The three key areas for discussion are: legislation and regulation, stock assessment issues and how to introduce new technology.

People take part to keep-up-to-date with the latest developments, to be part of a cross-industry discussion and listen to the issues raised by other parts of the industry. They can also raise their own issues, present new ideas, network with other people or make new contacts.

The group is led by our industry and we take responsibility for running the FMIG. The Group has met twice a year since 2009. The FMIG brings together people who represent the catching sector, as well as the retail, food service and restaurant industries. Other people who attend are not-for-profit environmental voluntary groups, consumer groups, government, scientists and industry bodies.

FMIG meetings and bite-size meetings

There are generally two meetings a year. The presentations and minutes from the most recent meetings are below. Presentations and minutes from previous meetings are available from Karen Green.

Due to COVID-19 we are running shorter online bite-size FMIG meetings in 2020 and 2021.

Next meeting

The next meeting is on 12 October 2021. it will run from 2pm to 3.30pm. Climate-smart mitigation for UK fisheries

Previous two bite-size meetings

The complexity of fisheries negotiations (29 June 2021). Trilateral and bilateral negotiations started in January between the UK and adjacent coastal states to establish an agreement on total allowable catches for shared stocks, and other fishery management measures for 2021. With the UK participating for the first time as an independent Coastal State this meeting looked at the complexities of these negotiations and the lessons learnt. See the presentations from this session:

Complexities and opportunities in being an independent coastal state. Colin Faulkner, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The difficulty in reaching a fisheries agreement with our northern neighbours. Lauren Ferrari, Marine Scotland.
Building resilience of Fisheries Governance in the North East Atlantic. Suzannah Walmsley, ABPmer.
The challenges for pelagic stocks. Tom Pickerell, North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group (NAPA).

Fishing gear selectivity and on-board technical innovation (13 April 2021). Effective fishing gear selectivity, aimed at reducing the capture of non-target species, remains a key issue for both the UK fishing fleet and the wider seafood supply chain. This meeting looked at the knowledge gained, and the good practice that has been developed through UK selective gear trials, as well as looking ahead at the latest on-board technical innovations. See the presentations from this session:

UK Gear Trial Review findings. Ana Witteveen, Seafish.
Real-time trawl camera systems used by the Danish fishing industry. Ludvig Ahm Krag, DTU-Aqua
Driving solutions to the problem of lost and abandoned fishing gear worldwide. Joel Baziuk, Deputy Director, Global Ghost Gear Initiative.

Terms of Reference and archive

We have archived presentations from previous bite-size meetings. These are available from Karen Green.
Notes and minutes on the bite-size meetings can be found below.
Presentations from our face-to-face FMIG and DAG meetings are available from Karen Green
View the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the group (March 2019).
To be added to the FMIG mailing list to receive our monthly news update and details on meetings please register

FMIG bite-size notes

FMIG monthly news alerts

Contacts

For more information about The Fisheries Management and Innovation Group contact
Karen Green.