A working group consisting of a fisherman, a scientist and a fishery manager behind the Lyme Bay Fisheries & Conservation reserve, the largest marine protected area in UK waters, will visit California to learn practices to prevent the collapse of fish stocks.
The “exchange trip” to Morro Bay, Calif., USA, which takes place between 18 and 25 October, is funded by the European Commision’s GAP2 international research project alongside conservation charity Blue Marine Foundation.
“I am looking forward to meeting like-minded people involved in the Morro Bay fishery so we can learn how they manage their fisheries, exchange ideas regarding sustainable fishing and hopefully meet some scallop divers,” said fisherman Jon Shuker.
Led by The Nature Conservancy, measures include a private agreement on where fishing occurs and the use of an “e-catch” app to track catches and key fishery data.
“The e-catch app will be a valuable tool to help us manage discards by sharing information between other fisherman and fishing authorities. It will also be useful to record shellfish landings electronically saving time and dreaded paperwork,” added Shuker.
Blue Marine Foundation Chairman Charles Clover, author of “End of the Line” and a Times columnist, welcomed the opportunity for fishermen, scientists and fishery managers to gather knowledge from the other side of the Atlantic.
“This visit will give our fishermen and experts the chance to compare notes at first hand on state of the art techniques for reporting catches in real time which can help fishermen to avoid catching over-fished stocks and keep fishing for other species,” he said.
