Now that the research phase of the annual fleet survey is over, the number-crunching begins, writes the Seafish Economics Team
Our annual fleet survey is now finished. It has been over 15 weeks of driving up and down the UK, long hours and plenty of conversations on the quayside for our researchers Joe, Carlos and Oscar. Now the invisible side of the work, by the Seafish Economics Team, begins.
It is now time to put together everything you have shared with us in these last months. We will begin by looking at the information many skippers and owners have shared with us on their crew (while maintaining confidentiality).
Labour is one of the main issues facing the UK fishing fleet. Knowing who works on the fleet right now, where they come from, how old they are and what their working patterns are helps policy- makers understand where the labour shortages are, or might be in a few years’ time. Our 2021 ‘Employment in the UK Fishing Fleet’ report will be out in early 2022 to answer these questions.
Early 2022 is also when we do a different type of ‘survey’ – and some chasing. It’s time to contact the several dozens of accountancy firms working with fishermen all over the UK and request access to the accounts of those clients who have given us permission to do so. We process all the accounts we receive in a confidential manner, and use them to produce our figures on the economic performance of the fleet.
Look out for our 2021 ‘Economics of the UK Fleet’ datasets and report from April 2022, where we will publish updated figures on the impacts of Covid-19, and a first look at the fleet in 2021.
If you contributed your financial accounts during this survey, you will receive your personal vessel benchmark report around July 2022. We hope this report will be useful to you when making decisions on running your business, or in discussions with your bank or accountant.
And just so you know, Carlos, Oscar and Joe (pictured above) won’t disappear once the survey is over! They will stay at Seafish working on collecting financial accounts and processing the data and publications.
So even though you won’t see us at the quayside for a while, we haven’t gone away. Our team is available for a call or a message any time you have a question about the survey, your benchmark report or anything in relation to our work.
Just drop us a line at: economics@seafish.co.uk and we will be happy to assist.
This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.
