This work was carried out as part of the Fisheries Science Partnership (FSP)
programme. The primary objective of the project is to improve the data
collection on sprat in the South West of England in support of the stock
assessment, by means of the continuation of a self-sampling programme carried
out by fishermen and main producers that begun in 2017-2018.
After the success of the first year, and some areas identified as requiring
further fine-tuning, the sardine self-sampling programme was continued in
2018-2019 and expanded to the sprat fishery.
In 2019-20, the current FSP project had the primary objective: to improve and
continue the data collection for sprat in the South West by means of a
self-sampling programme carried out by fishermen. Although the focus of
project was on sprat data, the project continued to support the third season
of self-sampling by the sardine fishery as well. Ultimately, the aim of the
FSP project is that the self-sampling programme for both the sprat and sardine
fisheries can run autonomously and will (continue to) contribute reliable
fisheries dependent data to the assessment process for both stocks.
Participating vessels recorded haul details (date, position, fishing gear),
and length distributions of around 50 individual sprat and sardine. In
addition to the data collected by the fishermen, processors agreed to provided
individual length and weight information for at least 50 individuals per
species per month.
