Fishers - strategies and choices: feasibility study

Annex 5: Privacy Notice

Information Sheet, Privacy Notice and Consent Form

This form explains the information that Aquatera wishes to collect from you including any personal data, how we intend to use it, what we do to protect the information we collect and what your legal rights are. We will seek your consent to participate in the survey and for your personal data to be processed as described below.

About the survey

Aquatera and MRAG on behalf of Scottish Ministers want to gather evidence to provide a first step in understanding what drives and influences the reasoning and decision making of fisheries who operate in Scottish waters, with regard to their fishing activities; to understand what methods or techniques can be used to research what drives and influences the reasoning and decision making of fishers who operate in Scottish water, with regard to their fishing activity; and finally, to develop a plan for carrying out this work in Scotland and to implement a pilot study to test the efficacy of this plan.

As a first stage of this study, we are developing an interview guide which we hope to be completed by fishers, through a 1 to 1 interview, which will help to inform the above objectives. The interviews will be anonymous and only identified by the fleet sector, targeted catch, gear type and vessel size. We are very aware of the number of consultations and pressures that there are around the commercial fishing industry, but we are confident that by completing the study interview you will be helping to shape future policy direction.

You are invited to participate in a short interview with Aquatera which will be conducted either in person or via remote video call (Teams or similar) or a phone call, depending on your preference. We ask permission to record these interviews to ensure all information is captured and as evidence required by the project conditions. Should recordings not be acceptable, we seek permission to take comprehensive notes that will be treated with the same discretion and destroyed upon completion.

If neither option is acceptable, we would ask that you complete a questionnaire which can be issued as an online form or as a word document which can be emailed to you or printed out and posted to you for completion as is most suitable. Some personal data may be collected during the interview such as your name/ name of your business, your role and your opinions and experiences. This is just for identification purposes while analysing the feedback form the interviews. The final report, which will be made publicly available, will only include the following information:

• Fleet sector;
• Targeted catch;
• Gear Type; and
• Vessel Size

After you have completed the interview, your responses will be analysed by Aquatera along with the interviews completed by other people participating in the survey, and the findings will be set out in a report for Marine Scotland. The recording of your interview and notes taken will only be accessed and used by the research team at Aquatera. Marine Scotland may publish this report; however, your individual responses will not be published and any information which could personally identify you will be removed in the published report.

You should also be aware of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) which enable the public to request access information held by the Scottish Government and its agencies. Any such request for information may be handled as a Freedom of Information (FOI) or Environmental Information Request (EIR) request. However, any personal and sensitive data will be removed prior to a release of information under the acts.

Data handling and processing

The lawful basis for the collection and processing of the data is Article 6(1)(e) – ‘processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller’.

The completed interview and any personal data that you provide will be held in strictest confidence, and will be securely stored in the Aquatera document management system and deleted when the project is complete.

Your rights

Participating in this study is entirely voluntary and is done so with your consent. You have the right to withdraw your consent and to object to our processing of your personal data at any time;

You do not have to answer all the questions asked;

You can choose to leave the interview and not take part in the study at any time, during or after the interview. In this case any information we have gathered will be destroyed and will not be used in the study;

You have the right to access your personal data within the period that Aquatera holds it;

You also have the right to rectify any incorrect or out-of-date personal data about you which we may hold;

If you want to exercise your rights, please contact Aquatera (details below); and

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), if you have concerns on how we have processed your personal data. You can find details about how to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ or by sending an email to: casework@ico.org.uk.

Aquatera and Marine Scotland Contacts

If you have any questions about the survey please contact: shane.quill@aquatera.co.uk

The SG Data Protection Officer in the Scottish Government can be contacted at DataProtectionOfficer@gov.scot.

Consent

Please read the following questions and check the boxes below to indicate consent.

☐ I have ready and understood the information provided in this form

☐ I consent to completing the interview being administered by Aquatera

☐ I consent to the interview being recorded by Aquatera

☐ I consent to a questionnaire instead of an interview being administered by Aquatera

☐ I consent to my responses being used for the purposes outlined above

☐ I understand any information I give will be treated confidentially and securely, in accordance with the terms of the Data Protection Act

☐ I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I can withdraw from the interview at any time without giving any reason and my data will not be processed