On Tuesday (16th July), The Prince of Wales will attend the closing session of the “Fishing Into The Future” Workshop, hosted by The Prince’s International Sustainability Unit and SeaFish. The Prince will make a speech at the workshop as well as hearing a summary of what has been discussed during the three-day meeting and meet delegates in a reception, Brixham, Devon. 

 “Fishing into the Future”

The Fishing into the Future workshop is co-hosted by Seafish and The Prince’s International Sustainability Unit (ISU) and the agenda was put together by a Steering Group of fishing industry representatives, the majority of whom are active skippers. Fishing into the Future will bring together fishermen from across all sectors of the UK fishing fleet, along with representatives from the value chain, environmental NGO’s, scientists, economists and fisheries’ management bodies. This is the first time that such a comprehensive group has been brought together in this way in order to share their knowledge, experience and ideas as well as identify opportunities for the UK fishing industry to be sustainable and profitable into the future. It is hoped that this workshop will be the first of an ongoing programme of interaction and knowledge-sharing across the industry, managed by SeaFish and possibly other interested partners (supported by the ISU).

The workshop in Brixham will specifically seek to: offer fishers a greater understanding of fisheries science and how it is used to inform fisheries policy and management; deepen understanding of current management processes and explore opportunities of alternative management systems; discuss business management, models of co-operation and partnerships that can improve market opportunities and catch value as well as consider consumer behaviour and sustainability. It is hoped that these discussions will inspire participants and lead to further collaboration and partnerships which will enable innovation and action toward a more sustainable and profitable UK fishing industry. 

The International Sustainability Unit 

The International Sustainability Unit (ISU) was created by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in 2010. The ISU seeks to build consensus around solutions to some of the key environmental challenges facing the world, including tropical deforestation, food energy and water security, and marine fisheries.   The ISU works with public, private and non-governmental organisations – helping to strengthen partnerships between them.

This workshop forms part of the ISU’s Marine Programme, which The Prince of Wales launched in February 2012. The Marine Programme aims to build a consensus globally on how the world’s fish stocks can be managed in a more sustainable way and on the need to manage them in the context of other marine life and the broader ocean ecosystem. The speech that The Prince made to launch the Marine Programme can be found at the following link www.princeofwales.gov.uk/media/speeches/speech-hrh-the-prince-of-wales-the-launch-of-the-isu-marine-programme.