APPENDIX 5: TRAINING
The following section expands upon the details of training issues, covered within the main document by paragraphs 3.23 - 3.24.
A5.1 Lantra, which is the Land-Based Sector Skills Council for land based industries, helped identify skill gaps and co-ordinate the delivery of appropriate training courses and qualifications. The Fisheries Management Industry Group was only recently established by Lantra. It should be noted that Lantra's remit is to deliver to land- based industries and not to other sectors. This means that technically they are not directly involved with angling clubs and associated skill requirements. The best analogy is that Lantra represents greenkeepers but not golfers. However, there are some grey areas due to the overlap of definitions.
A5.2 The Industry Group with Lantra has produced the Fisheries Management Sector Skills Agreement, was involved in helping to undertake an initial Sector Skills Check and produced a Skills and Labour Market Information Report for the industry.
A5.3 The existing relevant training includes Fisheries Management Level 2 and Level 3, which can be delivered either by distance learning ( UHI - Inverness College) or by a partial residential course (Barony College - Dumfries). Electrofishing training within these qualifications has been developed by SFCC. Other colleges are looking at delivering SVQs and/or other relevant vocational and academic qualifications.
A5.4 The Institute of Fisheries Management ( IFM) has been heavily involved in helping develop the units for the SVQs and with the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards ( ASFB) has produced a training unit for Scottish fisheries bailiffs that has been accepted as the standard required before a warrant card is issued, either by the DSFB or by the Scottish Executive.
Additional Competence Training
A5.5 Throughout these proposals for further development of the freshwater fisheries sector, there are references to making things happen. A necessary precondition for such extension of existing activities or creation of new ones is that there are sufficiently competent people who can make them happen. Whatever other constraints there may be on recommended structures and functions, shortage of suitably qualified personnel would be absolute. That is a resource issue.
A5.6 The range of issues covers legal matters and suchlike that may be addressed in the usual manner, viz. by taking professional advice. However, there will be subjects that should be addressed within the resources of the sector. Widely defined, the sector encompasses: owners and tenants of fishings, their employees and suppliers (including their specialist advisers), fisheries research and management bodies, their suppliers, tackle producers and suppliers, hotel and catering industry and specialist personal services (guides and instructors).
"Ownership" Subsector
A5.7 Despite the title, "management" bodies may only carry out limited management and maintenance of fisheries. Rather, any physical improvement on-the-ground is often carried out by owners, tenants, their employees and other suppliers ( e.g. construction sector). At the very least, information on the management processes and what might be achieved in particular circumstances needs to be made available to these sectors. This can be done through awareness raising and information dissemination and whilst formal training may be appropriate in some circumstances, it may not always be required.
Fisheries Management
A5.8 The management structure proposed will require a range of knowledge and skills. Not all of these will be in biological sciences. Indeed, depending what evolves for fisheries trusts' relationships with the new bodies, those institutions may be the key users of biological expertise. However, they will be needed somewhere.
A5.9 The Institute of Fisheries Management, with Lantra (the national skills council for the environmental and land-based industries), have proposed the creation of a post for co-ordination of training relevant to fisheries management. The post holder's responsibilities will be to work with employers to build a bottom-up assessment of key skill requirements. Inevitably, in a changing situation, some of this projection of needs will be speculative. However, some reassurance will come from being advised by the people who are liable to constitute the component parts of the emerging organisations. Having generated a projection of training needs, the next task will be to help training providers develop relevant prospectuses.
A5.10 The intention is that all training developed through this appointment will be certificated by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. Specifically, the target activities are gillieing (an owners' sector responsibility); guiding; bailiffing; field biology services; personnel management and volunteer services (for angling clubs and fishery improvement associations).