Fisher to Fisher Engagement

The MMO recognised the necessity of supporting the inshore fishing sector, which is currently the least organised and represented, by enabling F2F engagement to improve representation within the fisheries management system. HMC undertook a study (MMO1389a) to understand the current landscape and recommend interventions.  

The review process involved analysing governmental structures (like RFGs and Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Associations), non-departmental public bodies, national and local fishing organisations, and sector-led initiatives (such as CICs). It also explored informal mechanisms like social media and non-statutory spatial agreements. Interviews with stakeholders identified multiple barriers to participation, including financial disincentives, lack of trust, overwhelming communication, and power imbalances.  

Drawing this information together, the study recommended nine focused actions that the MMO could implement or support:

1. “How-to” guides: Covering topics such as how to establish a representative body, effectively engage in fisheries management, and access funding for governance capacity building.
2. Tools to enable anonymous input: For example, online whiteboards or similar technologies, to enable fishers to provide anonymous, real-time input in meetings.
3. Participation training: Fostering constructive participation through up-skilling to build capacity and confidence.
4. Specialised facilitation and novel approaches: Using specialist facilitators and novel approaches at Regional Fisheries Group (RFG) meetings to minimise disruption and improve engagement by ensuring all voices are heard.
5. Inshore fisheries spokesperson: Creating and supporting inshore fisheries spokespersons to coordinate communications between fishers and fisheries managers, potentially operating through an implementing partner.
6. Representation payments for small-scale fisheries associations: Introducing payments for inshore fisheries representatives to compensate for the loss of potential earnings.
7. Targeted organisational support financing: Including support to financially vulnerable existing organisations, like associations and Community Interest Companies (CICs), to enable recruitment of administrative personnel or others with strengthening skills.
8. Blended finance participation fund: Enabling blended finance structures (public-private sector funds) to increase the long-term financial stability of fishermen’s associations, CICs, and similar organisations.
9. Roadmap for RFGs: Developing an engagement and participation roadmap (See roadmap – project MMO1389b) that orients multiple stakeholders towards a shared vision of better engagement and participation.

These actions are intended to build capacity in the inshore sector, leading toward greater equality of representation, with the ultimate recommendation being that the MMO invests in a co-designed engagement and participation roadmap to provide clarity and a shared vision across multiple actors.  

This paved the way for the conceptual plan, MMO1389b, which sets out a detailed pathway to ensure inshore fisheries are equally well represented in Regional Fisheries Groups (RFGs) by 2027.