News from Spindrift Marine


Here you'll find news from Spindrift Marine and blog posts on important or interesting developments in the marine environment sector. Please check back regularly for updates.


Cockle atypical mortality case study

28th March 2013
by Jess

We've recently done some more work for Salacia Marine, who have been preparing a report on atypical mortality of cockles across the UK for one of the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs). The report required case studies, which were to give a narrative of the atypical mortality events in different shellfish production areas. In addition to researching and contributing two case studies, Spindrift provided a location map and constructed a table to summarise key attributes of mortalities in each area.



MPA spatial analysis for Seafish Industry Authority

28th March 2013
by Jess

There has been rather a lot of discussion recently about Marine Protected Areas in the UK. In addition to the Defra public consultation on Marine Conservation Zones, which is closing soon, marine planning and management has hit the wider public consciousness as a result of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "Fish Fight". The show was somewhat provocative in its presentation, and seemed to simplify things (somewhat disingenously) to "more equals better" in terms of marine management. However, it succeeded in raising the profile of the issue of how we manage our oceans.

Seafish, a government funded authority providing advice to the fishing industry, is keen to increase their understanding of how MPAs and fishing in the UK exist with respect to one another. In particular, they were interested in finding out exactly how much of UK waters are protected by current and proposed conservation designations. Some of the information in the Fish Fight programmes had, they believed, under-represented current and future figures.

Spindrift Marine undertook a short desk study, acquiring up to date spatial data on Natura 2000 and proposed MCZ MPAs, and calculating existing coverage and the additional area that would be protected by MCZ designation. A series of charts was produced to illustrate this - one has been uploaded to the Seafish website, and can be viewed here: chart for Seafish, showing current and proposed MPAs in UK waters.



Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood watch

28th March 2013
by Jess

Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) is an internationally renowned institution, which, in addition to the operation of the aquarium itself, engages in marine research (through the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) and provides advice to the public through their Seafood Watch scheme.

Seafood Watch (SFW) recommends, via a traffic light system, which fish consumers should avoid (red), choose as an alternative (amber), and which are the best choices (green)- similar to the MCS's good fish guide in the UK. The scheme has recently undergone a review, with the assessment criteria and process overhauled to ensure that fisheries could be evaluated more efficiently, but without sacrificing the need for a good evidence base. As part of this review, MBA SFW wanted advice on how they might evaluate the credibility of different eco-certification schemes, so that they could know which were robust enough that they could be happy to rely on the rigour of that scheme as a proxy for their own assessments.

Spindrift Marine undertook a desk study, looking at the aspects of "credibility" that go into fisheries eco-certification for wild capture and aquaculture fisheries. The report examined the process of standards-setting, accreditation and certification, and how the standards and guidelines prepared by organisations such as ISO, ISEAL and others feed into the FAO's guidelines for fisheries eco-certification.

More information on the Seafood Watch scheme is available at their website: About Seafood Watch.



Website design for Salacia Marine

15th August 2012
by Jess

Another recent job was a redesign of the Salacia Marine website. Spindrift Marine and Salacia Marine have worked together in the past, and Andy Woolmer of Salacia liked the clean, modern look and feel of Spindrift's website. He asked Jess to reimagine the Salacia site with something similar in mind: eyecatching and professional but light and fast. The result showcases the range of services offered by Salacia Marine, and the depth of their experience in the sector. If you would like Spindrift to undertake web design for you, please get in touch to discuss your requirements. In addition to simple static sites (light, effecient and suitable for showcasing smaller businesses), we have experience in designing CMS-based sites using the Joomla! and Wordpress platforms.



Effort mapping for the Cardigan Bay Fishermen's Association

15th August 2012
by Jess

It's been a while since the last update, but Spindrift Marine has been busy! In addition to creating a database for a forthcoming socio-economic fisheries survey, we recently did some GIS and spatial analysis work for the Cardigan Bay Fishermen's Association. The CBFA needed help with an effort mapping project. In addition to providing advice and training in ArcGIS to enable the data collection and mapping to be completed, Spindrift Marine analysed the resulting data, producing GIS output and charts showing patterns of fishing effort within Cardigan Bay. This information was immediately helpful as it provided some context against which the CBFA could consider the potential impact of a proposed Highly Protected MCZ off New Quay on the local fishing industry.



East Coast Shrimp fisheries MSC Project Plan

7th May 2012
by Jess

Spindrift Marine has produced a Project Plan for the East Coast Shrimp Fisheries Advisory Working Group (SFAWG). The Group draws its members from the fishing industry, regulators, scientists and statutory nature conservation bodies, and was formed with the aim of helping achieve MSC accreditaion for the East Coast brown and pink shrimp fisheries. The Project Plan examines the pre-assessment undertaken by MESL, identifies the work needed to address shortcomings in the current management framework, and suggests where priorities and dependancies between workstreams lie. The SFAWG will be meeting in King's Lynn on 9th May to discuss the plan and its implementation.



Work with Salacia Marine

7th May 2012
by Jess

Recently, Spindrift Marine has been working alongside Salacia Marine, providing support on a variety of projects. We enjoy collaborative working, and are always looking for opportunities to team up with other consultants for interesting work. Find out more about Salacia Marine at their website.



Website launched

16th January 2012
by Jess

The Spindrift Marine website has just been launched. It should already be in full working order (if there are any broken links, we'd love to know!) but we plan to regularly update this page, in particular, with new content. Thank you for visiting spindrift-marine.co.uk.