The minutes of the last meeting were tabled and adopted as a true record of discussions. The Chairman signed and dated copies.

Transcription

1 Minutes of the thirteenth meeting of the Seafish Northern Ireland Advisory Committee Held at Burrendale Hotel, Newcastle On Tuesday 15 th January at 10am. Present: Paul Williams (PW) Seafish (Chair) Sam Mawhinney (SM) Denholm Fish Sales Dick James (DJ) NIFPO John Doran (JD) Rooney Fish Lynn Gilmore (LG) Seafish Jack Cowden (JC) Kilkeel Seafoods Ltd. Joanne Gaffney (JG) C-Bait Malcolm Large (ML) Seafish Davey Hill (DH) ANIFPO Maritta McLornan (SFITA) In attendance: Ronnie McBride (RMcB) Laurence Rooney Rod Cappell (RC) Carrie McMinn DARD AFBI Poseidon ARM AFBI Apologies: Alan McCulla (ANIFPO), John Rooney (Rooney Fish) Note: All actions generated highlighted in bold italics. 1. Welcome and Introductions PW welcomed everyone to the 13 th SNIAC meeting. 2. Minutes of the last meeting held on the 10 th January 2012 The minutes of the last meeting were tabled and adopted as a true record of discussions. The Chairman signed and dated copies. 3. Matters Arising Fisheries Forum: Notes from a meeting of DARD and Seafish following the last SNIAC in October was tabled. DJ commented that since then, NIFPO has written a letter to DARD complaining to Dr John Speers about the lack of communication between DARD and industry. He went on to say that NIFPO do not feel that SNIAC is a viable alternative to the Fisheries Forum as there are industry issues that require direct meetings between industry and DARD without Seafish involvement. AFBI Inshore Project update: CMcM updated the group on the Inshore project. She said that the last steering Group meeting was held in November. At that meeting DARD called for a high level strategic document to be produced from the Inshore Fisheries Review document. AFBI have now completed this

2 and have submitted to DARD for approval. Once approval is received, this will be circulated to industry for consultation. Fish RAMP- for update see Agenda item 4 DfT funding for training- DH reported that they are keeping pressure on for continued DfT funding for training via the NFFO. Seafish 3 Year Plan- PW told the group that Seafish are awaiting sign-off of the 3YP by the 4 devolved Ministers. It has been indicated that this should be achieved within a week. Once it is signed off it will be circulated to industry. Seafish Vice Chair visit to NI- PW told SNIAC that Jane Ryder felt her visit was extremely worthwhile and he passed on her thanks to members for their time. Training: LG reported she had a meeting with Beverley Wilson (BW) and that a further meeting with MMcL and BW and is planned to take forward an EFF application for a review of training needs and then a further application for funding for onshore training. 4. Activities update General Seafish NI update: LG tabled a progress report and updated members on activity during the period October to January. She presented a new style of report which had been recommended by Jane Ryder. Members felt this new style was appropriate. FishRAMP- LR presented his initial findings on this project to SNIAC. He said that the aim is for AFBI to map what is proposed in the Irish Sea and to overlay this with fishing densities (from VMS data and other sources) and then for Poseidon to project how this affects the industry. So far windfarms, dredge spoil areas and cabling have been mapped. The VMS data used so far is for the period RC asked whether AFBI have now received plotter data- they were going to discuss this with Davey Hill. This has not yet been received. DH reported that seven more Seafish Succorfish systems are being installed on ANIFPO vessels. RC and LR agreed to have a meeting after SNIAC to see how best to progress the study in terms of mapping activity around more of the coastline (to include the north coast as pre the original brief) and SACs and renewable sites in these areas. DJ asked whether whitefish vessels are included? LR confirmed that the VMS data includes whitefish vessels but assistance from industry may be needed to decipher which data is from these fisheries. DJ agreed to assist. JG commented that the Department of Environment in the south have opened a consultation on conservation areas which could affect scalloping and the closing date is the 6 th March. JG said she will send the details to LG for circulation to members. CFP reform project- RC told members that the Discard Action Group set up by Seafish commissioned this work which looks at the impacts of the proposed discard ban as part of the reform of CFP. Member states will have to decide how to deal with a discard ban. Poseidon are developing a model to look at the status quo situation and then several options available to industry should there be a discard ban. These are: Purchasing quota, installation of bycatch reduction devices and Area management measures, for example, real time closures. The model has now been drafted and he said that the aim to now meet with industry and quota managers to ground truth the data used. RC said that a key consideration will be choke species like whiting and cod where lack of quota could mean the closure of a fishery although he said that the new cod avoidance measures will assist. DJ commented that cod quota will definitely become an issue. DH commented that with the small quota allocated this year, the Nephrops fishery could

3 have to close early in the year when cod quota is exhausted. RC said that the idea seems to be that fish should be landed and diverted to fish meal factories. The fish would only have a nominal value to cover the costs but not provide an incentive to land. DJ said that none of these facilities for making fish meal exist in NI therefore the cost of landing and transporting would be high. S M commented that costs of fish boxes should also be included. PW asked RC what the timescale was said for finalising the model and commented that it will highlight the issues with a discard ban. RC said that he is working with John Anderson in Seafish and hopes to have the first draft model finalised in the next couple of weeks. LG said that she would then be arranging meetings with industry to discuss the model and ground truth the underlying data. Ardglass Herring Protected Food Names Project- LG updated the group on the EU Protected Name project for Ardglass Herring in the absence of Paul Moore from DARD who was unable to attend the SNIAC meeting. She also asked members of they had any other fisheries products they wished to pursue eg Irish Sea Prawns/ scampi or Kilkeel cod. Members agreed to come back to her if they had other ideas. DH asked about the current state of the RFS scheme and JC commented that retailers do not rate the RFS label. ML said that one retailer has a stated aim to source all fish sold from domestic landings but he said RFS is really a Business to Business tool not really a consumer mark. DJ commented that in the pelagic sector, the NI industry is much more keen to receive MSC accreditation for Irish Sea Herring than RFS. PW updated the group and said that Seafish are currently reviewing RFS. He said that he recognised JCs comments on retailers and said that JC is correct that not all retailers value RFS. He also commented though that if you talk to buyers and retailers, they want something other than MSC. DH commented that some retailers are now taking accreditations off their packaging. PW commented that Waitrose do not advertise any accreditations on packaging. JC commented that consumers are basically interested only in the price point of the product. ML said that this was a valid comment as the recognition of accreditation schemes by the general public is very low. Even the Fair Trade brand has only 20% recognition with consumers. 5. Membership of SNIAC PW stated that Seafish has received a letter requesting a seat on SNIAC from Young s. After a discussion it was decided there was no objections to Young s attending and that there should be an inshore sector representative. Bob McMullan of the North Coast Lobster Fishermen s Association (NCLFA) was suggested. Representatives from the retail and food service sector will be invited to attend meetings as required. LG to contact Youngs (Colin Adamson) and NCLFA (Bob McMullan). 6. SNIAC and Northern Ireland Seafood Industry Forum Terms of Reference The final draft ToR of both groups were tabled. JG asked whether NISIF was necessary if DARD have promised NIFPO they are going to recreate a Fisheries Forum. It was decided by the group that NISIF was a good idea as the agenda can be set by industry. RMcB expressed some concern about Seafish providing the secretariat for NISIF and suggested that perhaps an independent secretariat would be better as DARD provide funding for LG. LG to circulate ToR to John Speers, Ian Humes and Ronnie McBride to get approval for the Seafish NI facilitation of NISIF.

4 7. Seafish update PW stated that since the last SNIAC, the Corporate Plan has been written and Seafish is waiting for the sign off from the four devolved Ministers. This sets targets and objectives and lays out how success can be measured by the Panels and Board. The next meeting of the Panels is in May so they can then judge Seafish progress. In order to measure success we need a benchmark. What is the recognition of the 2-A- Week campaign? how much fish does the average consumer eat? This sort of baseline information is being gathered and then we can judge if the consumer work undertaken by Seafish is successfully increasing levels of awareness. DH asked whether on the topic of promotions Seafish are promoting local fish or imports? PW responded that it was all fish but that he recognised that a large proportion of what is landed by the domestic catching sector is exported. International trade (headed by ML) looks at what we can do in terms of promotions overseas and the spend by Seafish in this area has increased significantly. ML commented that Seafish have commissioned updates of the export guides and that these should be available on the Seafish website from February. The 19 updated export guides will include information such as top markets for exports and background information on outlets, contacts etc. It is also recognised that export companies may need to then commission research into specifics. The Export Guides cost about 2000 each to produce and bespoke information could be provided to industry at a much reduced cost. PW stated that the first joint meeting of the Panels and Board was held before Christmas. The point of this event was to get Panel members from the three Panels together with each other and Seafish Board members and to try to get some consensus where there are differing views on the way forward. The panel process has resulted in the work programmes that are included in the Corporate Plan and reviews into the RFS and Fishermen s Training. PW said that there is no question about whether Seafish should be involved in Fishermen s training- it is very important in a dangerous industry. The question is whether levy should be used to subsidise training. The review will include lots of conversations with industry- DJ, AMcC and DH will be consulted in NI. PW said that Seafish want to get to the position whereby there is a continued role working on fishermen s training but alternative sources of funding can be used. Deaths at sea in the UK also reflect on companies only selling imported fish products. DH said that he felt the Seafish support for fishermen s training should be better publicised as catching fish costs lives. PW went on to say that there is going to be a review on levy. Issues to be examined include: a. Balance in levy on different species whitefish/ shellfish/ pelagic b. Reconsideration of the omission of canned and bottled products- a change would affect in particular companies making tuna sandwiches for large supermarkets. c. What should total take of levy be? d. Behind all this and part of it is the discussion on whether Seafish is still what industry want. There will also be an opportunity in late 2014 to look at whether salmon should be included when Government perform a triennial review of Seafish (and all other industry bodies). This review will mean that Parliamentary time will be set aside for a Bill on changes to NDPBs generally. This could include changes to the original 1981 Fisheries Act. 8. DARD update RMcB updated the group on recent developments in DARD. He said that Inshore Fisheries and the Environment have come to the fore and this has led to the creation of a new post (held by RMcB) supported by Dan McEvoy (Staff Officer) and Chris Weir (EO2). Ian Humes is now managing 3 sections:

5 Grants, Inshore/ Environment and Quota management. In addition, industry expressed disappointment at the time taken for DARD to create legislation. To this end, permission has been granted to create a Bill Team. This will allow fast tracking of legislation and progress work on (among other things): Inshore fisheries strategy Strangford Lough Other SACs MCZs Velvet crab fisheries 9. Date of next meetings The next SNIAC meeting is scheduled for the 23 rd April but this coincides with the Brussels show. It was therefore decided that LG will circulate dates after the meeting. It was decided that it there is no point in scheduling meetings too far in advance. 10. AOB None There being no other business, the meeting closed at pm.