CHAPTER SEVEN: THE ROLE OF SEERAD
This chapter examines the extent to which respondents understand and are aware of the role of the Scottish Executive Environmental and Rural Affairs Department, the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency ( SFPA) and the Fisheries Research Services. The data has been reported at an overall sample level of owners and skippers and buyers and sellers.
All respondents were asked the extent to which they the felt they understood the role of SEERAD, the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency and Fisheries Research Services; whether they understood the role of each very well, quite well, not very well or not at all well.
As can be seen in chart 7.1, the organisation for which there was highest awareness of its role was SFPA, with around seven in ten respondents claiming to understand its role either "very well" or "quite well" (71% of owners and skippers and 69% of buyers and sellers).
The role of the Scottish Executive Sea Fisheries Division and the Fisheries Research Services were less well recognised, with higher proportions of respondents claiming not to understand the role of each than claimed to understand the role. In terms of the Scottish Executive Sea Fisheries Division, 55% of owners and skippers and 50% of buyers and sellers claimed not to understand the role of the Scottish Executive Sea Fisheries Division to any extent. This was in comparison to 39% of owners and skippers and 49% of buyers and sellers who claimed to understand the role of the organisation to any extent.
For the Fisheries Research Services, 45% of owners and skippers and 40% of buyers and sellers claimed to understand the role of the Fisheries Research Services either "very" or "quite well". This was in comparison to 50% of owners and skippers and 59% of buyers and sellers who claimed not to understand the role of the organisation to any extent.
Chart 7.1
Understanding of the role of organisations
Again from the qualitative work which has been undertaken, there was a mix of views. As can be expected, those respondents who were based in England had very limited knowledge, if any, as to the roles of any of these agencies. From those who were based in Scotland, the majority had heard of the organisations, but when asked of details about their individual roles, there was very little knowledge. There was a feeling among a fairly large number of respondents that there are so many different organisations within the fishing industry it becomes hard to differentiate between them. An example to illustrate this point was that during the qualitative interviews it was apparent that respondents did not associate SEERAD with the Scottish Sea Fisheries Division.
"I get some information coming from Seafish but not SEERAD. I never see any information from SEERAD. I always get information from Seafish, maybe a letter in the post maybe every 3 months or something."
Owner/skipper
In summary,
- SFPA has the highest proportion of all respondents being aware of its role (71% of owners and skippers and 69% of buyers and sellers claim to understand its role to any extent). The role of the Scottish Executive Sea Fisheries Division and the Fisheries Research Services were less well recognised, with greater proportions claiming not to understand their role than understanding their role.