1. Introduction

  1. This Commercial Fisheries Technical Report provides a detailed characterisation of the commercial fisheries in operation across the Array.
  2. The information on commercial fisheries activity presented in this report is intended to inform the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Array, by providing a detailed understanding of the commercial fisheries baseline, against which the potential impacts of the Array can be assessed.
  3. Commercial fisheries activity described in this report, is defined as fishing activity legally undertaken where the catch is sold for taxable profit.

2. Study Area

  1. The Array is located within the north-west portion of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Division 4b (Central North Sea) statistical area; within the United Kingdom (UK) Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) waters (which is the area that extends from the UK territorial waters 12 nm boundary out to 200 nm). For the purpose of recording fisheries landings, ICES Division 4b is divided into statistical rectangles which are consistent across all Member States operating in the North Sea.
  2. The Array is located primarily within ICES rectangle 42E9, with small overlaps into ICES rectangles 42F0 and 41E9. These three ICES rectangles form the commercial fisheries local study area for the purposes of the EIA ( Figure 2.1   Open ▸ ). In order to understand fishing activity in waters adjacent to the Array, a commercial fisheries regional study area has been defined to include the commercial fisheries local study area together with surrounding ICES rectangles 41E8, 41F0, 42E8, 43E8, 43E9 and 43F0. Analysis of data at the scale of the commercial fisheries regional study area takes into consideration that most commercial fish and shellfish receptor populations are distributed at a wider spatial scale, ensuring that potential implications of displacement of fishing activity can be adequately understood.
  3. To summarise, there are two scales of commercial fisheries study areas as follows:
  • commercial fisheries local study area: 42E9, 42F0 and 41E9; and
  • commercial fisheries regional fisheries study area: 41E8-F0, 42E8-F0, 43E8-F0.

Figure 2.1:
Commercial Fisheries Study Areas

Figure 2.1: Commercial Fisheries Study Areas


2.1. Methodology

  1. This report has been developed through an extensive and thorough analysis of data and literature, sources of which are fully referenced at the end of this document. The assessment encompasses both publicly available data sets and data obtained through specific requests. Landings statistics have been analysed using Microsoft Excel, while vessel monitoring system (VMS) data have been evaluated using ArcMap Geographic Information System (GIS) software.
  2. In addition to quantitative data, qualitative insights have been gathered through direct consultation with the fishing industry.
  3. This analysis has been through a desktop study, with no specific commercial fisheries survey undertaken.

2.2. Desktop Study

  1. A detailed desktop review of existing studies and datasets was undertaken to gather information on commercial fisheries within the commercial fisheries local and regional study areas. Table 2.1   Open ▸ summarises the studies and datasets used.
  2. Data has been sourced from ICES, the European Union (EU) Data Collection Framework (DCF), the Marine Directorate National Marine Plan interactive (NMPi), the UK Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
  3. Where data sources allow, a five to ten-year trend analysis has been undertaken, using the most recent annual datasets available at the time of writing. The temporal extent of this time period is dependent on each data source analysed, e.g. 2012 to 2016; 2016 to 2020; or 2011 to 2022, as annotated in Table 2.1   Open ▸ .
  4. Relevant literature from a number of sources has also been reviewed in the preparation of this report. A full list of references is provided at the end of this report and are cited within the text where appropriate.

 

Table 2.1:
Summary of Key Desktop Reports

Table 2.1: Summary of Key Desktop Reports

 

2.2.1. Data Limitations and Uncertainties

  1. A range of different data limitations and uncertainty exist for all of the commercial fisheries datasets assessed within this report. The level of uncertainty and confidence of each data set is defined in Table 2.2   Open ▸ based on expert judgement of the assessment team.
  2. Limitations of landings data include the spatial size of ICES rectangles which can misrepresent actual activity across the Array; and care is therefore required when interpreting these data.
  3. It is noted that all commercial landings by UK registered vessels are subject to the Register of Buyers and Sellers (RBS) legislation and therefore landings by UK vessels of all lengths are recorded within the MMO iFish database. While it is recognised that there is no statutory requirement for owners of vessels 10 m and under to declare their catches, registered buyers are legally required to provide sales notes of all commercially sold fish and shellfish due to the 2005 Registration of Buyers and Sellers of First-Sale Fish Scheme (RBS legislation) (MMO, 2022a; MMO, 2023a). The RBS legislation is applicable to licenced fishing vessels of all lengths and requires name and port letters and numbers (PLN) of the vessel which landed the fish to be recorded in relation to each purchase. For the 10 m and under sector, landing statistics are recorded on sales notes provided by the registered buyers (MMO, 2022a; MMO, 2023a). Information that may not be formally recorded on the sales note, such as gear and fishing area, is added by coastal staff based on local knowledge of the vessels they administer - for example, from observations of the vessel during inspections at ports or from air and sea surveillance activities as well as discussions with the owner and/or operator of the vessel (MMO, 2022a; MMO, 2023a).
  4. Lack of recent landings statistics for EU (non-UK) fleets is also recognised as a data limitation; based on the most recent European Commission data call, more recent landings data (2017 to 2022) is no longer available by ICES rectangle. Data at a scale of ICES division (i.e. the whole of the North Sea) is less useful to understand fishing activity specific to the Array.
  5. Limitations of VMS data are primarily focused on the coverage being limited to larger vessels 15 m and over for UK fishing vessels. It is important to be aware that where mapped VMS data may appear to show inshore areas as having lower (or no) fishing activity compared with offshore areas, this is not necessarily the case because VMS data do not include vessels typically operating within inshore areas (i.e. which typically comprises vessels <15 m in length). To assist in mitigating the risk of under-representing smaller inshore vessels, site-specific marine traffic survey data comprising information on vessel movements gathered by both AIS and radar has been analysed alongside publicly sourced VMS and AIS data.
  6. MMO fisheries patrol vessels and surveillance aircraft operate in coordination with the Royal Navy’s Fisheries Protection Squadron. UK surveillance aircraft are used to construct an on-going picture of fishing activity within the UK EEZ and to make effective use of patrol vessel activity by coordinated use of surveillance data. These data cannot be considered to give an accurate picture of the actual level of activity and have a number of limitations, including:
  • Patrol effort by Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs), Royal Navy Fisheries Patrol Vessels and patrol aircraft are optimised for enforcement purposes and not collection of sightings data. Areas with fewer fisheries enforcement issues are therefore likely to be visited less often and result in lower data confidence.
  • Surveillance data are only indicative of areas where fishing activities occur, as there is no continuous monitoring of activities.
  • Surveillance data present a snapshot of activity in an area, and it cannot be assumed that if no vessels have been sighted then no fishing takes place.
  • Vessels fishing at night would likely remain undetected.

 

Table 2.2:
Data Limitations and Uncertainty (the Uncertainty and Confidence Levels are Defined Based on Judgement and are Intended to Inform the Appropriateness of Data Used to Inform the EIA)

Table 2.2: Data Limitations and Uncertainty (the Uncertainty and Confidence Levels are Defined Based on Judgement and are Intended to Inform the Appropriateness of Data Used to Inform the EIA)