Seafish announces their annual survey has commenced in the Port of Peterhead

Seafish calls on the UK’s fishing vessel owners and skippers to take part in their annual survey of the UK fishing fleet which began in Peterhead on Monday, July 11.

Seafish annual survey commences

Seafish researchers will be heading to fishing ports around the UK this summer as part of the annual UK Fishing Fleet survey which kicked off last week.

The survey asks socio-economic questions of fishing businesses around the country. Questions include enquiries about businesses’ financial performances and crew demographics. This gives owners and skippers the chance to share how their business has fared in the last 12 months and helps paint a picture for policymakers of the challenges the fleet faces in an ever-changing political and economic landscape.

The interviews take no longer than 15 minutes to complete and all responses are treated as strictly confidential, with no figures from any individual vessel revealed in any outputs.

Outputs from the 2021 survey, including the Employment in the UK Fishing Fleet report and Quay Issues Magazine are already available on the Seafish website, with more to be added in the coming weeks.

As well as contributing to these major industry publications, fishing businesses who take part in the survey can also request a free benchmark report. They can be used as evidence in grant or loan applications.

Nick Patience, Fleet Survey Project Lead and Economist at Seafish, said: “The UK fishing fleet survey is a vital piece of research that explores the health of the sector, covering its economic challenges and deeply important social impact on the communities built around it. The results are essential in helping government understand where costs are changing, how businesses are really performing and what is charting its course.

“We would encourage as many fishing businesses and vessel owners as possible to take part in this years’ survey, so that every voice can be heard and represented in our confidential evidence sharing with government.”

Representatives from across the UK industry have called on businesses and vessel owners to take part in the survey.

Mike Park, CEO at Scottish White Fish Producers Organisation, said: “All forms of data are required to carry out a successful business. Economic data is perhaps the most crucial of those. More recently with the Scottish Government, I’ve used Seafish economic data to put a case forward with others for funding for the fleet. That’s the fourth time in the last decade I have done that. And without that data, it would have been difficult to create that argument.

"The data can also be used by you as a vessel owner or operator to benchmark your performance against other similar vessels. It can allow your PO, probably which you’re a member of, to see how they’re performing in terms of sections of the fleet and how they perform against other POs.

"And crucially, it allows us to understand how we as a seafood nation are performing against other seafood nations.

“So I would actively encourage every skipper out there, every owner out there, to allow Seafish to come in and harvest your data.”

Vessel owners and skippers who are willing to participate in the fleet survey should email [email protected] with their: Name, email and/or phone number, and port of operation.

This will allow Seafish researchers to arrange a meeting a meeting with participants in port or by call.

Further information is available on the Seafish website: seafish.org/fleet-survey