• The fisheries cooperation and training ship Intermares hosted an advanced course in September, organised by CIHEAM Zaragoza and the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) through the General Secretariat for Fisheries (SGP)
• The training provided the latest practical information on scientific fishery observer programmes, international protocols and applications of new technologies for monitoring fisheries.

Sustainable fishery management should be based on a sound knowledge of fish stocks and comply with fishery management strategies, regulations and policies. Therefore, it is crucial to gather fishing data, including fishery-dependent information, collected by professionally trained, specialised scientific staff on board fishing vessels.

Being a scientific observer on a fishing vessel requires a practical understanding of fishing operations, fishing gear, and knowledge of capture compositions, including market catches as well as by-catches (discards and accidental captures of protected species). Researchers use the data collected to draft technical reports on the fraction exploited by fishing, impacts on the marine environment, abundance of species, and fishing selectivity. The data and reports are also used in forums, committees and fishery assessment working groups to inform decision-making in renewable marine resource management. Consequently, they have a large socioeconomic influence on the fishing sector. As there is a lack of scientific fishery observers, staff are recruited without prior training and this has negative consequences on the quality of the data collected.

In order to respond to this situation, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA), through the General Secretariat for Fisheries (SGP), and CIHEAM Zaragoza organised a course in September on board the fisheries cooperation and training ship Intermares moored in the port of Malaga. The training provided the latest practical information on scientific fishery observer programmes, international protocols and applications of new technologies for monitoring fisheries. The course was attended by 21 professionals from Spain, Algeria and Colombia, under the scientific coordination of Julio Valeiras, researcher from Vigo Oceanographic Centre belonging to the Spanish Institute of Oceanography IEO-CSIC. It was delivered by guest lecturers from IEO-CSIC in Malaga and the Institute of Marine Research IIM-CSIC of Vigo, the General Subdirectorate of Scientific Research and Marine Reserves of the General Secretariat for Fisheries (MAPA) and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (FAO-GFCM). The programme covered current sampling methodologies and data analysis, incorporating practical exercises and case studies. It offered participants an applied vision and enabled them to develop operational skills as scientific observers.

The long-term viability and sustainability of fishing activity is an environmental, economic and social objective of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), consolidated in Regulation (EU)  No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December, which lays the grounds for this commitment. It is necessary to develop technical solutions and measures for the monitoring, control and surveillance of fishing operations, providing the scientific and technical information needed to characterise the environmental status of ecosystems effectively.

Today, the professional work of the scientific observer is to guarantee the collection of independent fishing data related to the essential biological and technical information needed to study fisheries. The scientific observer is responsible for acquiring this information  on board commercial vessels and must be able to computerise it in scientific databases and analyse the data in order to compile comprehensive technical reports for each fishing season.

Nowadays, in order to achieve sustainable fishery management in the long term, we need more scientific and technical data. This entails optimal monitoring, control and surveillance of fishing activity and operations. Over the past decade, there has been growing interest in remote electronic monitoring systems (REM) as a robust and effective means of achieving comprehensive fisheries documentation. A particularly noteworthy technological solution involves the use of monitoring systems equipped with video cameras, an efficient tool that is currently used in many fisheries to gather data from catches, by-catches and discards to support fisheries management.

Scientific fishery observers need specialised training. There is a current need to professionalise this sector and improve working conditions, as in other countries that have established professional fishery monitoring programmes.

Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMO) and fisheries administrations from different countries are attempting to base their management measures on a robust understanding of the status of fishing stocks. To achieve this, they require data on fishing activity, including fishery-based information which should be collected by specialised scientific observers on board fishing vessels. The course addresses the need for professionally trained observers, a demand that has been expressed by different RFMOs and fisheries administrations from different countries. The training is also aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 14 (conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development), and responds directly to SDG 14.4 (sustainable fishing) and indicator 14.4.1 (proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels).