Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency
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The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Executive, part of the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department. The SFPA is responsible for both deterring illegal fishing in Scottish waters, as well as monitoring the compliance of the fisheries industry in Scotland with the relevant Scottish and European Union laws on fisheries. The Agency has a fleet of 4 Fishery Protection Vessels, and 2 aircraft for the purposes of monitoring and enforcement in the waters around Scotland.
The SFPA is headquartered in Pentland House, Edinburgh, which also houses the Scottish Fisheries Monitoring Centre and the UK Fisheries Call Centre; also maintaining branch offices in fishery ports around Scotland.
[edit] History
The British Parliament has legislated for the protection and control of fisheries in the waters around the United Kingdom since the early 19th century. In 1882, the Fishery Board for Scotland was established for the purposes of protecting sea fisheries in the waters around Scotland. The Board's responsibilities were transferred to the Secretary of State for Scotland in 1939. In 1991, the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency was established as an executive agency of the Scottish Office. Following devolution in Scotland, the agency transferred to the control of the Scottish Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD). The letters "SF" appearing in the Agency's ensign relate to the words "Sea Fisheries" as the agency is part of the Sea Fisheries Inspectorate.
[edit] Responsibilities
From the SFPA's annual report for 2004-05, the Agency has this mission statement:-
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- To monitor the Industry’s compliance with UK, EU and international fisheries laws and regulations in ports and at sea within British Fishery Limits around Scotland, and beyond, through the effective deployment of patrol vessels, surveillance aircraft and the sea fisheries inspectorate and the expeditious presentation of cases of non-compliance for prosecution.
The SFPA had an annual budget of around £26 million in the financial year ending 31 March 2005.
[edit] Resources
[edit] Fishery Offices
There are 73 warranted British Sea Fishery Officers (BSFOs) based at 18 coastal offices around the coast of Scotland.
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These are overseen by three Area Managers based one each at Peterhead, Inverness, and Oban.
[edit] Fishery Protection Vessels
The SFPA have four fishery protection vessels (FPV) in service as of 2006, although the SFPA are intending to upgrade the fleet to 3 Jura type vessels and 2 Minna type vessels.
FPVs are responsible for the enforcement and monitoring of Scottish waters, although they are not considered military ships and are not armed. They use the prefix FPV, and fly the SFPA's ensign. The FPV fleet currently consists of three vessel types.
[edit] Jura Class
The new Jura class are offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of 2,200 tonnes. These vessels can stay on effective patrol for up to 30 days. The first of the class, FPV Jura joined the fleet in March 2006.
[edit] Sulisker Class
The older Sulisker class are offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of 1,365 tonnes and a maximum speed of 18 knots. They can spend up to 21 days on patrol. The two ships currently in service are named:
- FPV Vigilant (launched in 1982)
- FPV Norna (launched in 1987)
The first of the class, FPV Sulisker was launched in 1980 and decommissioned late 2005.
[edit] Minna Class
The Minna class, are inshore/offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of 781 tonnes and a maximum speed of 14 knots. The Minna class can also spend up to 21 days on patrol. Currently there is only one vessel of this class, FPV Minna[1] (47.5 metres = 154.8 feet long) which was launched in 2003.
FPV Minna was a replacement for the inshore FPV Westra which was decommissioned in 2003.
[edit] Fishery Protection Aircraft
The SFPA also have 2 aircraft: WD 64 (Watchdog 64) (G-SFPA) & WD65 (G-SFPB). Both are Reims Cessna Caravan II F-406s, based at Inverness Airport. The aircraft are operated by Highland Airways under contract.
Both aircraft were due to be replaced by Reims Vigilant F-406 surveillance aircraft in mid 2006. This has been delayed by the manufacturers Airbus's workload until 2007.
[edit] Scottish Fisheries Monitoring Centre
The Scottish Fisheries Monitoring Centre (FMC) is based in the Operations Room of the SFPA and is responsible for the maintaining and monitoring the VMS satellite tracking system of fishing vessels in Scottish waters. The centre is usually manned 0700-2200 Monday to Friday and 0800-1100 Saturday and Sunday.
[edit] United Kingdom Fisheries Call Centre
Since 1st June 2005, the UKFCC has been the single point of contact for all notification or reporting requirements from fishing vessels in UK waters, working of behalf of the SFPA, the Marine Fisheries Agency of England and Wales (MFA, previously part of DEFRA), and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Northern Ireland (DARNDI) to enforce relevant UK and European Union laws on fisheries.[2] It is manned 24 hours a day.
[edit] Vessel Replacement Programme
The Scottish Executive approved funds for the Agency to replace its ageing Sulisker class vessels. FPV Jura was launched in June 2005 as a replacement for the FPV Sulisker. The Jura is a larger ship at 2,200 tonnes and can stay on patrol for up to 30 days.
The Jura was constructed by Ferguson Shipbuilders of Port Glasgow as the first ship to replace the Sulisker class vessels. In the tendering for the next two vessels to be built, the Scottish Executive awarded the contract to a Polish shipbuilder rather than Fergusons, sparking strong criticism from the Scottish National Party.
In May 2006, the vessel replacement programme was delayed when the Agency was forced to suspend the tender process for a second Minna type inshore vessel after it was found that the process was in breach of EU procurement rules. [3]
[edit] See also
- Marine Fisheries Agency of England and Wales
