Report of Research Findings
COI Job No: 291928
A Fisherman’s Tale: Being a Fisherman in England in 2009: Report of Research Findings
December 2009/ Job No. 578/ Version 5Prepared for:
COI, on behalf of their client, Defra
A Fisherman’s Tale: Being a Fisherman in England in 2009: Report of Research Findings
Contents
1Management Summary
1.1Introduction
1.2Attitudes, Motivations, Perceptions
1.3Fishermen Typologies
1.4Communicating with and Influencing Fishermen
2Introduction
2.1Background to the Research
2.2Aims and Objectives
2.3Method
2.4Sample Structure
2.5Sample Profile
2.6Filming
2.7Other Matters
3Motivations and Drivers
3.1Introduction: An Embattled Industry
3.2What Led Them to Become Fishermen
3.3The Fisherman’s CV
3.4Owner Skippers, Non-owner Skippers and Crew
3.5Super Under 10s
3.6The Positives and Negatives of a Fisherman’s Life
3.7A Day in the Life
3.8Safety at Sea
3.9Financial Aspects of Fishing
3.10Why They Stay in the Industry
3.11What the Future Holds
4Community Status
4.1Introduction
4.2Status Within their Local Community
4.3Status Among the Wider Public
4.4The Future of their Community
5Environmental Issues
5.1Introduction
5.2Overview of Fishermen’s Response
5.3Response to Environmental Issues
5.4Response to Scenarios
6Communication with Fishermen
6.1Introduction
6.2Keeping Themselves Informed
6.3Communications with and from Defra
6.4Licence Capping – an Example of Communication Failure?
7Fisherman Typologies
7.1Introduction
7.2‘Leaders’, ‘Lieutenants’ and ‘Followers’
7.3Additional ‘Types’
8Communicating with and Influencing Fishermen
8.1Introduction
8.2Ineffectiveness of the Current Model
8.3Future Communications: Is There a Way Forward?
9Appendices
9.1Recruitment Questionnaire
9.2Recruiter Guidelines
9.3Discussion Guide and Stimulus Material
Table 1: Intended Sample Structure
Table 2: Percentage of Vessels by Category and Type of Gear
Table 3: Geographical Distribution of the Intended Sample
Table 4: Achieved Sample Compared to Intended Sample
Table 5: Sample Age Profile
Table 6: Average Vessel Length, Engine Power and VCU
Figure 1: Summary of Research Locations
Figure 2: Headlines on Environmental Topics
Acknowledgment
142 fishermen from across England took part in this research. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their contributions.
Many of them arrived at the sessions not knowing quite what to expect but ‘ready to do battle’ with the researchers, and to put their views across with varying degrees of forcefulness. By the end of the discussions, they often made a point of shaking the researchers by the hand and thanking them for taking the time to listen to what they had to say. A key aim of this research is to provide fishermen with the opportunity to tell their story and to have their voice listened to. We hope we have managed to capture and present their opinions as accurately as we can. With this in mind, we have included a large number of verbatim comments.
During the course of the research we learned a great deal about what it is like being a fisherman in England today. It was difficult not to come away without a sense of admiration for what they do in what are undoubtedly difficult times. We hope in some small way our research will help to realise a more fulfilling future.
A Fisherman’s Tale: Being a Fisherman in England in 2009: Report of Research Findings
1Management Summary
1.1Introduction
The overall aim of the research was to assist Defra in building up a rich and detailed understanding of fishermen registered in England, to identify and define a range of ‘types’ of fishermen based on their needs, motivations, attitudes and behaviours, and to put forward a possible segmentation. The research findings will inform the Department’s long term strategy for the fishing industry, with particular emphasis on the inshore fleet, help it to develop effective policies and services, and enable it to communicate more effectively with the fishing community.
142 fishermen took part in 21 research sessions, each lasting some two hours. Over half of these sessions were drawn from a cross-section of the Inshore fleet – fishermen operating vessels that are under 10 metres in length and working quotas that are set and managed by Defra. The remaining sessions were conducted among members of the Over 10 metre fleet including so called Sector fishermen, who own their own quota which is managed on their behalf by Fish Producer Organisations, and Non-sector fishermen, who hold and manage their quotas individually.
1.2Attitudes, Motivations, Perceptions
The key findings are as follows:
- Fishermen are collectively extremely angry and frustrated with their lot and feel under attack from all sides. There are conflicts and tensions with a wide range of external organisations but there are also lots of tensions within the fishing community.
- Fishermen are extremely independent and yet they find themselves in what is perceived to be probably the most highly regulated industry in the country; it is therefore not surprising that many of them summed up what they disliked most about their industry in one word – Defra.
- For many of those interviewed, ‘Defra’ is a catch all for a variety of Government bodies, including the Marine & Fisheries Agency and the EU.
- Fishing is not considered a job; it is a complete way of life. It is also an addiction – drug metaphors were commonly used to describe what it is like to be a fisherman. Most fishermen were brought up in a fishing community and learned their skills at their father or grandfather’s knee, often from a very early age. Some of them are descended from long lines of fishermen. Fishing is very much ‘in their blood’, they are immensely proud of their heritage and their community and this sense of belonging goes a long way to defining how they see themselves. For most of them, the idea that they could switch to another career because of the increasing difficulty of earning a living from fishing is simply not something they will consider.
- Although they are extremely skilled at what they do, most fishermen lack formal academic qualifications. Almost without exception, they left school as soon as they were able to. Many of them have poorly developed literacy skills which makes reading and writing a challenge.
- Just about every fisherman we spoke to said that the financial rewards are not what they once were. Irrespective of their actual level of earnings, the nature of fishing means that they feel under constant financial pressure. This pressure is a function of a range of factors such as loans and overdrafts and the unpredictable nature of their earnings.
- Most of them would not encourage a son to become a fisherman because they feel the future of the industry is too bleak and uncertain, something they mainly attribute to Defra. They are equally pessimistic about the future of their communities as they have seen the fleet sizes severely depleted over the last few years.
- Most of the fishermen were reluctant to engage with environmental issues, especially in relation to fishing practices. A few were willing to accept that there are issues here but feel they face a dilemma; they need to earn a living and this is already difficult enough without worrying about the environmental impact.
- When it comes to fishing stocks, most fishermen denied that there were any serious shortages, they feel that ‘there are more fish in the sea than there has been in years’ and that, if certain stocks are low, this is due to natural cycles or climate change. They do not accept it is due to over-fishing. Most fishermen feel they fish in a sustainable way and that they make very little long term environmental impact. This is especially true of the Inshore fleet who believe that any problems in this regard are being caused by the Over 10 fleet and that they are being unfairly ‘tarred with the same brush’.
- There was a very strong feeling that Defra and the UK Government are ‘fighting against, rather than on behalf of,UK fishermen’. Unfortunately, given their independent nature, the only effect this has is to make the fishermen even more entrenched.
- There is a universal hatred of the quota system which is perceived to be both unnecessary and ineffective. It is considered unnecessary because fishermen do not accept that there are serious shortages of fish stocks and it is ineffective because they believe that all it results in is high discards, rather than having any conservation value. It is seen to result in a ‘lose, lose’ situation.
- Given their views on stock levels, it is not surprising that fishermen have no faith in fisheries science since they believe this is what underpins the quota system.
1.3Fishermen Typologies
At one level, all the fishermen we spoke to were very similar and shared many values and attitudes; at the same time, they are extremely individualistic and highly fragmented as an industry. This makes it difficult to develop typologies in the usual manner. However, there was a dimension or spectrum along which it was possible to place fishermen and this was with respect to how they are responding to the uncertain future of the fishing industry. Given that this is the very issue about which Defra needs to engage with fishermen, it makes it a particularly suitable basis for developing a segmentation. With this in mind we have developed a segmentation based on three key types. They are qualitative, broad brush descriptions or pen portraits; the descriptions of the various ‘types’ are not based on individual fishermen but should be seen as amalgams of characteristics. As such, they should be treated very much as working hypotheses.
- ‘Leaders’: although by far the smallest segment, they represent the most important group of fishermen with whom to engage as they are likely to influence how all other fishermen think and respond. They are characterised by being more strategic and business focused in their thinking; they are proactive in responding to their circumstances and are looking for solutions. They are the more likely to be willing to consider a greater use of electronic communications.
- ‘Lieutenants’: many skippers fall into this segment. While they are highly skilled fishermen they are less likely to adopt a strategic and business focused approach and tend to be more reactive in their thinking. They are an important group to engage with partly because of their numbers but also because they are likely to follow the direction taken by ‘leaders’.
- ‘Followers’: this segment is mainly made up of crew and those skippers who want to carry on doing what they have always done. Many fishermen lack well developed literacy skills and this is particularly the case among this segment. This can mean that they find it difficult to express their opinions clearly. They have no interest in receiving communications from Defra. They are self professed followers and,as long as ‘leaders’ and ‘lieutenants’ provide the necessary steer, they are likely to follow. As they are the hardest segment to reach and because they take their lead from the other two segments, communications would be more effectively targeted on the ‘leaders’ and ‘lieutenants’ who, in turn, will influence the ‘followers’.
1.4Communicating with and Influencing Fishermen
The research has revealed that from the fishermen’s perspective, communications from and with Defra are often not very effective. Key learnings for more effective communications include:
- genuine two-way communication: if fishermen are to embrace the long-term vision for sustainable fisheries, they must take ownership of, and feel that they have a degree of control over, both the process and the outcomes. For this to happen, they need to feel that their views, concerns and needs are taken into account.
- a local community model of communication: their local fishing community defines who a fisherman is and represents their main sphere of influence and interest; a model of communication that takes this into account is more likely to succeed in engaging with fishermen.
- taking literacy levels into account: there is a pressing need to develop methods of communications that rely less on the written word.
- better targeted: for example, Defra should consider whether it is possible to provide monthly licence variations on a more targeted basis, especially among the Inshore fleet.
2Introduction
2.1Background to the Research
Defra is the lead department for fisheries. In 2007, the Department published ‘Fisheries 2027, a long-term vision for sustainable fisheries’ which sets out how the Government intends to deliver its vision of clean, safe, healthy, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas.
Published a year earlier in 2006, the Varney Report identified major opportunities to strengthen public service delivery to make it more accessible, convenient and efficient to meet changing citizen and business expectations. The report called for services to be designed to meet the needs of people and businesses rather than the needs of Government. An internal review of its services carried out by Defra concluded that ‘Defra needs to do more to understand customer needs in designing the provision of its services.’
If the Department is to deliver its long-term vision for sustainable fisheries, it needs to have a good understanding of the individuals it wishes to influence, their attitudes and behaviour, their needs and motivations and their experiences of Government. To date, there has been little audience research among the people who work in the fishing industry to explore their needs and opinions.Against this background, Defra commissioned Creative Research to carry out a research project to help it understand fishermen.
2.2Aims and Objectives
The overall aim of the research was to assist Defra in building up a rich and detailed understanding of fishermen registered in England, to identify and define a range of ‘types’ of fishermen based on their needs, motivations, attitudes and behaviours, and to put forward a possible segmentation. The research findings will inform the Department’s long term strategy for the fishing industry, with particular emphasis on the inshore fleet, help it to develop effective polices and services, and enable it to communicate more effectively with the fishing community.
The research objectives were as follows:
- Typology of fishermen
to provide a typology of attitudes and behaviours for fishermen based on their attitudes, behaviour and motivationsfor being in the fishing industry
to ‘profile’ the typologies according to other criteria such as demographic data, region, industry data i.e. type of vessel/fishing etc.
- Communication
to explore how the typologies/segmentscurrently interact with Defra, and to establish what are their preferred channels for communication, engagement on Defra issues and general media consumption
- Attitudes, motivations, perceptions: to explore
their motivations for fishing and longer-term objectives
their perceived status in their own communities and with the public as a whole
their perceived role as part of the wider fishing community including that of fishermen within the EU
their views on relevant environmental issues such as coastal erosion, overfishing and marine biodiversity
what they believe they would be doing if they were unable to continue to fish i.e. the impact on them and their communities
- Language
to determine the potential language that could be used and developed for use in a quantitative attitudinal segmentation i.e. development of relevant attitudinal statements.
2.3Method
The lack of any previous research with fishermen meant that this study was developed on an exploratory basis. A qualitative method was used because we needed to spend time exploring a range of potentially complex issues in considerable depth. Our aim was to hold a series of group discussions with fishermen drawn from a cross-section of fishing communities in England. These discussions were planned to last some two hours. Given the tensions between fishermen and Defra, it was unclear just how willing fishermen would be to participate in the research so we planned to recruit a mix of full groups among crew (recruiting ten respondents on the assumption that not everyone would attend and allowing two members of crew from the same boat to attend), mini-groups among skippers (recruiting six respondents per group) and, possibly, some paired depths (either in a situation where we were unable to persuade more fishermen to participate or in locations where the number of available vessels meeting the recruitment criteria was small).
Recruiters were briefed about the types of respondents they needed to find and were given the contact details of a local MFA officer who could brief them about the local fishing community and suggest times and places to find the fishermen. They were also given contact details of the fish producer organisations (POs) where they were being asked to recruit Sector fishermen (see 2.4.1 below for explanation of terms) as well as the relevant Sea Fisheries Committees[1]. Some recruiters used their own initiative, for example, by making contact with a harbour master or local fishermen’s association who, in turn, could put them in touch with fishermen.
This approach proved very successful. Although our recruiters were rebuffed by a number of fishermen because they were unwilling to cooperate in any research being conducted for Defra, we had little difficulty recruiting enough fishermen to fill the sessions. The only exception to this was at Scarborough where we were aiming to recruit two sessions from fishermen based in Bridlington, Scarborough and Whitbybut we were unable to find enough fishermen who were willing to take part. These sessions were re-allocated to other locations. As with most research projects involving focus groups, fishermen received a financial incentive for giving up their time and this clearly helped encourage attendance. One mini-group among Sector skippers was replaced by two paired depth interviews. This was because the number of suitable vessels at the location involved was small to begin with and, at the time of the fieldwork, most of the vessels were at sea for most of the time.
In addition to contact details, each recruiter was given the names of vessels that were registered in either the port where we were aiming to hold the discussion groups, or in nearby ports, and which were likely to meet the recruitment criteria for the discussion groups in question. The lists were divided up into Sector vessels (Over 10 metres), Non-sector (Over 10 metres) and Non-sector (Under 10 metres) (see 2.4.1 below for an explanation of these categories). They were further sub-divided on the basis of the main gear types (see Table 2) that had been used during the previous financial year[2]. These lists were intended to provide recruiters with a focus for finding the types of fishermen we wanted to include but recruiters were free to find fishermen working boats not on the lists. This was for a number of reasons. Firstly, fishermen may not be working out of their home port or vessels may have changed hands and still be shown on the register under the previous administrative and home ports. Secondly, the type of gear being used may have changed since the previous year and thirdly, some of the vessels on the lists may have been dormant. Details of each respondent’s vessel were recorded as part of the recruitment process and these were cross checked against the lists. Any vessel not on the recruiters’ lists was cross-checked against the relevant databases. This confirmed that most respondents were operating on the types of vessels using the types of gear that matched the recruitment criteria.