Fisheries Action Group

The Latest from the Fisheries Action Group

On behalf of the Moray Firth Fisheries Action Group, the Moray Firth Partnership, commissioned Tristan Southall, in association with Hambrey Consulting, to assess the feasibility of implementing the Moray Firth Fisheries Action Plan. This work was funded by the Fisheries Association Limited, Fisheries Industry Training Association (Highlands & Islands) Ltd., HiMaRCS, Moray Council, Scottish White Fish Producers Association and the Spey Salmon Fishery Board.

The Feasibility Study involved consultations with the industry and other stakeholders and included the 3rd meeting of the MFFAG in December 2005, which discussed options for a future, re-focused direction for the MFFAG.

The study is now complete and the revised action plan and full report is available to view or download here.

The study concludes that the Moray Firth Fisheries Action Group has achieved substantial progress in recent years, bringing local fisheries and other interests together in constructive debate. It concludes that there is real scope for small but significant constructive steps to be taken by the MF FAG, ahead of the establishment of the local Inshore Fisheries Group by SEERAD. These include securing local authority commitment to support the establishment of the IFG and to establish communication with a wider section of the local inshore industry. These, and other actions are listed and discussed in the report. 

We hope you agree that this study has taken an important step in the positive progress towards improved integrated management of Moray Firth Fisheries. The Moray Firth Partnership, taking a lead from those of you who attended the MFFAG meeting in December, is keen to maintain momentum and is now looking for small-scale resources to continue this work, and to implement the actions identified in the study, over the next 12-18 months. If you, or your organisation wants to see the actions being taken forward and make a funding contribution to enable this, please contact me.