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The report presents the outcome of a feasibility study, supported by Seafsh, for developing an aquaculture and fsheries research and development centre at a laboratory facility in Brixham. (formerly AstraZeneca’s, but transferred to Plymouth University two years ago). The proposed concept was a full-service operation that could support the UK seafood industry - including fsheries and aquaculture supply chains - with market-led research, development and analytics capabilities.

Velvet swimming crabs are traditionally consumed by southern European nations where crab fisheries have collapsed - this has enabled development of the velvet crab fishery in Northern Ireland as a commercially significant sector. There exists, however, virtually no data on which to base the sustainable exploitation of this fishery. This research will pursue studies of populations and individuals of the velvet crab to provide critical information to inform and guide policy in this important fishing industry in Northern Ireland, and will potentially develop local economies and jobs. We will: (1) conduct field surveys of abundance and population structure of velvet crab; (2) assess effects of fishing methods and by-catch on sustainability; (3) examine the welfare of individuals with physiological measures to enhance survivorship and welfare during transportation, thus improving meat yield and quality.

The report concerns UK seafood supply chains reliant on domestic and international wild capture seafood. It covers major impacts from key climate change drivers, from production to markets, and sets out major areas of adaptation action.

The benefits of sustainable fisheries and the need to mitigate the environmental impacts of fishing and aquaculture are increasingly in the public consciousness. Poorly implemented, government run, command and control management schemes have often failed to curb fishing effort, prevent overfishing and avoid environmental degradation. Alternative, market based approaches have shown promise and, among these, enabling informed consumer choice in seafood purchasing can generate strong motivation for improved catching and culture practices.

This report is the result of a study, sponsored within the 1982/83 MAFF research commission, of commercial practices of handling and holding fresh fish destined for human consumption, and the effect of those practices on quality.

The new Seafish Corporate Plan for 2015-18 sets out our mission, vision and values for the next three years. The Plan includes the new High Level Objectives and strategic outcomes for Seafish, along with more detailed information about the Seafish work programmes which support them. The Plan has been developed in partnership with industry and key stakeholders and will be our key tool in communicating our delivery promise during 2015-2018.

Report on the Current State of Driftnet Fisheries in the UK.

The report concerns UK seafood wild capture supply chains reliant on domestic and international production. It covers major impacts from key climate change drivers, from production to processing, and sets out major areas of adaptation action.

The Annual Report provides a detailed Management Commentary and financial review of the activities undertaken by Seafish during 2010/2011 and information on future developments.

The use of pure plant oil (PPO), also known as vegetable oil, as a diesel fuelextender or as a total fuel substitute is known. The concept gained popularity during the fuel crisis in the 1970’s although engine technology at this time was relatively basic. The concept today has two primary drivers for land transportation: cost reduction and environmental footprint. The use of recovered and suitably processed used cooking oil (UCO) can offer further substantial atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation together with a reduction in other regulated exhaust pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, as well as additional cost savings compared to virgin PPO,.Regenatec has developed technology which retro-fits to diesel engines and allows them to be fuelled by diesel or PPO or UCO. This technology is found in products being sold to owners of land based vehicles, both commercial and domestic. Initial trial work performed by Regenatec on land based vehicles has shown promising results. This project investigated the use of PPO in a trawler, the Jubilee Quest, based in Grimsby, UK, operated on PPO during the Autumn of 2006. The aim of this trial was a technical investigation of the technology and PPO: it was not designed to be a commercial deployment. The use of PPO (and even UCO) is currently commercial unviable in UK marine applications due to the economies of scale enjoyed by the petrochemical industry. (The use of PPO and UCO is only viable for land based vehicles because of a duty rebate currently enjoyed by bio-fuels.) As biofuels start to scale and when the environmental costs of fossil fuels are fully reflected in the cost of the product, it is anticipated that biofuels will become economically viable. As a key part of this project, Regenatec developed their technology into a system to be used at sea by a trawler. Their dual tank system is under electronic control to automate the use of PPO in a diesel engine. This has significant advantages over existing, less sophisticated technology. The engine is started on conventional marine diesel (or biodiesel) and then automatically switches over to the lower cost, more environmentally friendly PPO. The automation greatly improves the ease of use for unskilled operators and removes the potential for engine damage when compared to manual control. Additionally, Regenatec is heavily involved in fuel additive work investigating what fuel additives commonly used to enhance the technical and environmental performance of mineral diesel are applicable to PPO and UCO. This work is being undertaken under Confidentiality Agreement in conjunction with a leading mainstream additive manufacturer. An ‘additive pack’ was not fully developed and therefore not available for field deployment during this project. However, lab work and land based field trials in this area have provided encouraging feedback.

The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) introduces a landing obligation to eliminate discarding. The objective of this research, was to determine the potential economic implications of this discards ban on selected case study UK fleets through establishing a) how would the landing obligation affect fleet economic performance, b) at fleet level, and given current discards, what would the quota requirements amount to, and c) identify any ‘choke’ species that could limit operations of the fleet. The report highlights two key aspects of the landings obligation: the restricting effect of so-called “choke” species, and a lack of clarity surrounding the permitted flexibilities contained within the legislation. The results confirm what we already thought: much work remains to be done in order to ensure that we have a fishing fleet which operates sustainably, profitably and in line with the recently agreed landings obligation.

This note explains what discards are, why they occur, their significance and what can be done about them. The idea came from the Discard Action Group, one of the ‘issue forums’ that Seafish runs in order to resolve problems affecting the whole seafood supply chain. This group was established to start a cross-industry dialogue in response to the European Commission’s proposals to minimise or ban discarding. This is an updated edition of February 2008 briefing note. Discarding has moved up the political agenda again: in a global context European discards are still disproportionately high; the Commission is further developing its policy aimed at minimising discards across Europe; and the wasteful nature of discarding is increasingly seen as unacceptable throughout the supply chain. This briefing note includes an appendix that describes the initiatives introduced over the last couple of years, many initiated by the fishing industry, in order to reduce discarding in UK fisheries.