Nephrops
Project UK initiated the Nephrops Fishery Improvement Project in 2019 because of its importance to the UK economy, and because of a drive from the supply chain to support environmental improvements.
The FIP is geographically complex, aiming to cover all UK vessels fishing for Nephrops, by both creeling and trawling, in the North Sea, the Irish Sea and the West of Scotland.
Summary
The pre-assessment at the beginning of the FIP, which pinpointed areas for improvement, identified 11 key actions to underpin the ambitious Action Plan for the following five years. Over 100 Steering Group members contributed their time and expertise over the five years of this project, representing 66 UK and EU businesses and organisations.
Annual progress against the FIP’s actions can be seen in the chart opposite.
Units of Assessment (UoA) within the Nephrops fishery
Next Steps
Following five years of work, the Project UK chapter of the Nephrops Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) has now finished. Significant progress has been made during this time, but considerable actions are still to be achieved. The Steering Group has committed to continue working towards MSC certification by applying to enter the MSC Improvement Program. For this new chapter of improvements, facilitation has been transferred from Project UK to Seafish, and a new Working Group is now gathering the appropriate documents.
The full list of the remaining Project UK FIP actions, milestones, and MSC scoring indicators can be found in the Year Five Annual Review by Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management.
Further information on the next chapter for the Nephrops FIP can be found on the Seafish website.
The Nephrops FIP was supported by dedicated experts representing a range of stakeholder organisations.
Participants
Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) • Anglo North Irish Fish Producers Organisation (ANIFPO) • Associated Seafoods Ltd. • Centre for Environmental & Fisheries Science (Cefas) • Co-op • Communities Inshore Fisheries Alliance • Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) • Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) • Hilton Seafoods • Isle of Man Government • Lidl • Macduff Shellfish • Marine Scotland • Marine Scotland Science • Marks and Spencer • Morrisons • NatureScot • Northern Ireland Fish Producers Organisation Ltd. • Northern Ireland Gear Trials • Poseidon • Sainsbury’s • Scot LINK • Scottish Fishermen's Federation • Scottish Fishermen’s Organisation • Seafish • Scottish Seafood Association • Scottish White Fish Producers Association • Tesco • Ulster Wildlife Trust • Waitrose • Whitby Seafoods • WWF • Young’s Seafood
Resources
Research and Outputs
FIP Steering Group Meeting Minutes
2024
2024 Project UK Year 5 Annual Review: Nephrops (2024)
2023
2023 Project UK Year 4 Annual Review: Nephrops (2023)
2023 Whitton, T. Hiddink, J.G. (2023), Determining the impact on seabed habitats of fishing for Nephrops with trawls and creels around the United Kingdom, Bangor University
12/10/23 Minutes: Steering Group Meeting
30/05/23 Minutes: Steering Group Meeting
16/01/23 Minutes: Steering Group Meeting
2022
2021
08/21 Ecosystem Scale Intensity Consequence Analysis (SICA)
2021 Catch composition for Nephrops fisheries in ICES divisions 4a-c, 6a and 7a – Demersal trawls and pots/creel (Ribeiro Santos, A (Cefas) 2021)
09/03/21 Minutes: Nephrops SICA
20/04/21 Minutes: Principle 1 and 3
28/04/21 Minutes: Principle 2
02/09/21 Minutes: Principle 2
16/09/21 Minutes: Principle 1 and 3
2020
2019
2018
14/06/18 Minutes: Steering Group Meeting.
