Cornwall and Isles of Scilly FLAG --ARCHIVED as of 31 January 2020--

Official name:

Cornwall and isles of Scilly

Country:

United Kingdom

Region:

England

Code:

UK214

Programming period:

2007-2013

2014-2020

Area

--ARCHIVED as of 31 January 2020--
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly lie at the very south-western tip of Britain and are home to some of the most unique coastal features in the United Kingdom. The fisheries sector here is very diverse and versatile in terms of methods and target species, compared to other locations in the UK. Boats vary from beam trawlers to small cove boats. Methods include beam trawling, crab/lobster potting, gill-netting, longlining, drift-netting, scallop dredging, ring-netting, hand lining etc.

The sector lands over 50 species including crabs, lobster, scallops, cod, turbot, haddock etc. Besides fisheries, other important economic activities in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly include tourism and agriculture.
The key challenges the area faces would be the lack of new entrants into the fishing industry, lack of knowledge and awareness of locally caught species and the need to boost business along the supply chain. There is also concern around engagement with the regulatory environmental agenda for fisheries.

Type of area:

Coastal
Island
Rural

Sea Basins:

Atlantic

Protected areas:

11 Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Three Marine SACs (Falmouth and Helford SAC, Isles of Scilly SAC, and Plymouth Sound & Estuaries)

Population

532 300

Surface area (km²)

3 563

Population density

149

Total employment in fisheries

800

Fishing:

800

FLAG strategy

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly FLAG will have three themes within its strategy:

Safe working harbours
Encouraging and supporting young people into marine careers
Innovation, research and diversification.

Within these three themes the FLAG has four priorities:

Supporting innovation, diversification and micro business development. This will aim to build communities through encouraging collaboration between fishermen.
Developing and supporting social, economic and environmental projects which especially benefit smaller and isolated communities where the numbers of beneficiaries is low, but impact is strong.
Supporting innovation projects, by bring forward new fish products, fish waste/bi-products and new processing methods. Such projects could be in partnerships with social enterprises, scientists and researchers.
Developing and supporting training to mentor new entrants. Working with skipper mentors to develop training to ensure entrants are safe and skilled in the many requirements of their work. This priority comes from previous FLAG projects and will look to develop a much more thorough new entrant programme with mentoring.

Themes:

Objective:

Adding value, creating jobs, and promoting innovation along the fisheries chain

Priority:

% of the budget allocated:

20%

Supporting diversification

30%

Enhancing and capitalising on the environmental assets

15%

Promoting social wellbeing and cultural heritage

15%

Strengthening the role of fisheries communities in local development

20%

Funding

Total public budget allocated to the FLAG for 2014-2020:

939 485

EMFF:

704 614
MS co-financing:

234 871
Sources of co-funding:

National

Project examples

Project examples include

A training and mentoring programme for fisherman aimed at developing their skills in sales and marketing as well as processing and overall care of catch. This project is directly aimed at job creation.
A research project involving cooperation between the fishing industry and a research body will focus on waste; in particular, on minimising waste by using as much of the fisheries catch as possible.
A direct sales hub in a popular tourist fishing port is also envisaged. It will create shore based jobs that will process, cook and sell local fish to the public. This project could be replicated in other popular tourist harbours.
In addition to this, it is also hoped to expand pesca-tourism opportunities for fisherman in what is one of the most popular areas in Britain for tourism.

Good Practice

Credit Unions

Social Return on Investment: a new way to measure FLAG results

Calls for proposals

Calls for projects are on an on-going basis. See website for details.

Expertise & cooperation

The FLAG has experience in assisting fishermen in direct selling, innovation with digital technology for marketing and sales, training young people and tourism.

They are interested in co-operation concerning diversification, use of fish waste and underutilised species, social research and supporting women in fishing.

Budget envisaged for cooperation:

10000.00

Links with LEADER or other CLLD groups

The FLAG also functions as a LEADER LAG and the two areas of intervention overlap. The LAG and the FLAG share the same legal structure as well as a broad strategy for the development of the surrounding area under their surveillance. The organisation is multi-funded, receiving funding both from the EMFF and the EAFRD.

Partnership

Accountable body:

Cornwall Rural Community Charity

Members of the partnership:

The FLAG membership includes Cornwall County Council, the Cornwall Maritime Manager, Inclusion Cornwall, Hayle Harbour Authority Ltd., Looe Fish Market, Cornwall Marine Network, Seafood Cornwall Training, Surfers Against Sewage, Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commissioners, the Isles of Scilly Fishermen’s Association, Looe Harbour Commission, Clean Cornwall, Cornish Fish Producers Organisation, Mevagissey Harbour Trustees, Cornwall Community Rural Council (CRCC), Seafish Industry Authority and the Hayle Fishermen’s Association.

The FLAG receives advice on a regular basis from Natural England, Finistere Council (France), MMO, Cornwall Development Company and the Cornwall Rural Community Charity.

Number of individuals/organisations in partnership/general assembly:

% of fisheries actors:

40%

% of other (non-fisheries) private / NGO sector actors:

30%

% of environmental actors:

10%

Number of individuals on main decision-making body/board:

% of public actors:

20%

Number of contracted staff in FLAG:

1,00