From April 2019 the CCRI – together with colleagues from the University of Newcastle – have been working on a project about how commercial fishers and sea anglers engage with marine management and science in England, and the potential for such engagement. The project was commissioned by Defra following a competitive tendering process.
The research team have been working hard to find out about the experiences and opinions of individual fishers and anglers. We divided this research into three streams of information. First. we interviewed 9 people who work at the national level, within organisations that represent fishers and anglers in various ways. Second, we went to five harbours around the coast of England to interview fishers, anglers and other people involved in fishing and sea angling about their experiences relating to participation, fisheries management and marine science. This part of the research took place in June, and we interviewed 54 people. The third stream of information comprised an online survey of sea anglers and 529 people took part in that.
Throughout July the research team analysed this data and have now given Defra an initial report about their findings. Dr Matt Reed, the leader of the project, said:
“We are grateful to everyone who took part in this project, for their generosity with respect to their time, and for being confident in sharing their information with us. We have now reported to Defra, and as soon as we are able following additional feedback on our report, we will be sharing the results. I’m looking forward to reaching out to the various communities and interest groups who engaged in the research about what we have found later in the year.”
