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Fisheries Consultation Meetings News 23/24th September 2010

Danbrit Ship Management Ltd (DSML) in their role as fisheries liaison providers recently conducted a series of initial consultation meetings with the local fishing industry on the North East coast of England. The meetings were conducted in the main fishing ports of Amble, Blyth and North Shields and provided the locally based fishing industry an opportunity to meet with representatives of DSML and Narec.

The purpose of the meetings was to engage the local fishermen directly and introduce them at an early stage to the project. It also provided DSML with an opportunity to distribute information on the project including a pre-prepared ‘Question and Answer’ paper which outlined many of the questions posed by the local industry from DSML’s experience on other related offshore projects  (http://www.dsml.co.uk/projects.html ).

Representatives of DSML and Narec outlined the proposed plans for the demonstrator project to a well attended audience which included over 40 fishermen representing 36 licensed fishing vessels, the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee, Marine Management Organisation and local fishing businesses. Representatives from the local fishing community included a wide range of fisheries including trawling, potting and drift net fishermen.

Fishermen expressed a wide range of concerns over the project from loss of fishing opportunities to cable laying disruption. The re-instatement of ground once the project was complete was also mentioned and there was a difference in perceived impact between both the static and mobile gear sectors. A range of mitigation options were also discussed and both DSML and Narec will work together to explore mitigation suggestions put forward by the fishing community.

DSML will continue to liaise with the local industry to produce the baseline commercial fisheries assessment of the proposed project area. Both local fishing industry representatives and vessels are being utilised to undertake liaison and survey work to assist in the environmental assessment phase of the site.

Nathalie Stevenson, the Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Project Manager stated ‘ It is very encouraging  that these meetings were well attended,  and I am hopeful that it bodes well for the future.  A number of issues were discussed, particularly relating to the prawn fishery and static gear fishing, and some promising and innovative suggestions for beneficial mitigation were made. While we  have a long challenging road ahead of us, I am looking forward to continuing to engage and actively work with the local fishing industry to maximise benefits to both the project and fishing industry

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