Working in partnership with the commercial fishing sector is essential if we wish to achieve a sustainable and profitable fishing industry in Ireland. The Minister established the Irish Fisheries Science Research Partnership (IFSRP) in July 2008. This group, made up of FIF industry representatives and scientists form both the Marine Institute and BIM, meet on a regular basis. At these meetings research projects, assessment results and research priorities are actively discussed. The IFSRP has directly established several important initiatives e.g. Industry-science conferences and surveys.
There is a long history of collaborative engagement between scientist and fishers in Ireland. For example skippers have been bringing scientists to sea since 1993 on commercial sampling trips. Building collaborative industry-science partnerships does give dividends in both directions. Individual fishers have an important direct role and responsibility in the collection and provision of the data needed for scientific assessments. Scientists have a responsibility to maximise the utility of those data in assessments. The assessments inturn inform sustainable fisheries management decisions. Integrating fisher’s information and tacit knowledge into assessments is a key challenge for fisheries scientists but doing so will ultimately provide assessments that are more robust and accepted by all.
Examples of collaborative research involving the Marine Institute and Irish Industry are:
- Cod Tagging Project
- Celtic Sea Cod Survey
- Anglerfish Surveys
- Porcupine Nephrops Surveys
- Boarfish
- Inshore Atlas