Inshore Fisheries Forums are consultative forums at which members are representative of the ‘inshore sector’ fishermen using boats of less than 12m in overall length.
Established in May 2014 the National Inshore Fisheries Forum has been set up to facilitate the development of a coherent inshore sector “voice” by encouraging fishermen to discuss their fishing issues and generate commonly supported initiatives. The National Inshore Fisheries Forum (NIFF) is supported by a network of Regional Inshore Fisheries Forums (RIFFs). They have nominated delegates to bring forward regional proposals to NIFF for wider industry discussion. The RIFF members include inshore fishermen, environmental interests, marine leisure, marine tourism and other marine stakeholders.
The Inshore Fisheries Forums are financed under the Inshore Fisheries Conservation Scheme through Ireland’s EU Structural and Investment Funds Programme 2014-2020 and part financed by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. The Inshore Fisheries Forums are facilitated by the statutory bodies responsible for marine fisheries in Ireland, namely Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Sea Fisheries Protection Agency and the Marine Institute. Bord Iascaigh Mhara provides administrative support to the forums.
Terms of Reference for the Inshore Fisheries Forums are available to download here and the Inshore Forums Code of Business Conduct here.
The Marine Institute (MI) has recently published a tender inviting applications from skippers in the 8-14m potting sector who may be interested in providing data on fishing activity for their own vessel for a given number of trips per year (Skippers as Observers). This is to complement both the MI Observer at Sea programme and. Read the full article...
