Data collected by the Fisheries Observer programmes from 2018 until 2023 inclusive: EIR Review

Information requested

Original request (202400403446)

Can you please provide all data collected by the Fisheries Observer programmes from 2018 until 2023 inclusive (5 years), ideally on a per trawl basis, and including catch location, date, (ideally vessel name and PLN but you may consider this to be protected data, we do not), Vessel power KW, Vessel Length, Gear type, Cod end description & selectivity measures, catch composition (weight of each species caught), % <MCRS and discard composition.

Can you please also provide any annual reports provided by the observer programme.

Response

Further to my letter of 9 May 2024, I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) as follows:

1. This doesn't appear to be "all data collected by the Fisheries Observer programmes from 2018 until 2023 inclusive (5 years),", instead it is summarised data using some but not all of the categories I listed after "ideally"

2. Notably, you have not included data on a trawl by trawl basis and the "catch location" which I had provided in my example as lats and longs has been degraded to only FAO region. Summarising the data in that way means it is not possible for me to use this data to inform discussion as part of the FCP process about bycatch hotspots and hot-times, so I will need that data - can you please provide all data or data on a trawl by trawl basis with catch location in lat and long to minimum 4 decimal degrees alongside the other fields you have already provided.

3. I am are extremely surprised that there is no end of project report - given >£500k of public money is spent on this project per year this appears to be extremely bad public procurement practice. Can we therefore have whatever communication you are provided with by the consultants for this work?

4. The justification for not providing information re catch composition you have given is that this is taken as a sample and not on a per trawl basis, but given no other data has been provided on a per trawl basis this reasoning appears to be flawed, can you please provide all catch composition data collected by the observer programme from 2018 to 2023 inclusive in whatever form it is available.

I have concluded that a different decision should be substituted.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under the exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs a public authority may refuse a request for information if it is 'manifestly unreasonable'. The Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance on the regulation 10(4)(b) exception at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Law/EIRs/EIRsExceptions.aspx says “a request will impose a “significant burden” on a public authority where complying with it would require a disproportionate amount of time, and the diversion of an unreasonable proportion of its resources, including financial and human, away from other statutory functions.”

A vast amount of information has been identified as potentially being within scope of the request within the date range specified. The nature of some of the information will require this consideration to be given by specialist staff with the relevant knowledge and experience to understand the complexities involved and the implications of disclosure.

Locational data for one-person legal entities are considered personal data and cannot be shared. The data set consists of over 11,000 separate trawls, pertaining to over 600 fishing trips and over 150 vessels, which need to be individually considered for redaction.

One of our data specialists has processed a sample of the data requested and recorded the time taken to extract, anonymise, review and redact these data to prepare for release. The time estimate has been extrapolated to cover all trawls involved and has been estimated to take over 92 hours in total. This is processing time before any considerations are made for third party interests or any commercial sensitivities.

This exception is subject to the public interest test. This means we have, in all the circumstances of this case, considered if the public interest in disclosing information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about the observer programme, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring the efficient and effective use of public resources by not incurring excessive costs when complying with information requests.

1. This doesn't appear to be "all data collected by the Fisheries Observer programmes from 2018 until 2023 inclusive (5 years),", instead it is summarised data using some but not all of the categories I listed after "ideally".

Your original request was: “Can you please provide all data collected by the Fisheries Observer programmes from 2018 until 2023 inclusive (5 years), ideally on a per trawl basis, and including catch location, date, (ideally vessel name and PLN but you may consider this to be protected data, we do not), Vessel power KW, Vessel Length, Gear type, Cod end description & selectivity measures, catch composition (weight of each species caught), % <MCRS and discard composition.”

The issue of providing data on a per trawl basis has been specifically addressed above by application of the exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs.

I apologise that our original response did not properly address your request for "all data collected by the Fisheries Observer programmes from 2018 until 2023 inclusive (5 years)”.

Vessel power KW and Vessel Length, cod end description, selectivity measures, catch composition (weight of species caught), and %<MCRS are not collected by the observer programme. The occurrence of any discarding is not recorded. Bycatch composition per trawl is not collected by the observer programme as weight of each species, but as numbers by species and length found in a sample.

The data that were provided are statistical estimates calculated from the observer scheme data as these were considered the closest available data which would provide information on information originally requested, namely bycatch by species and %MCRS. They do not cover all categories listed after “ideally” because the information is not calculated in this way, and as previously mentioned, many of the categories listed after “ideally” are not collected.

2. Notably, you have not included data on a trawl by trawl basis and the "catch location" which I had provided in my example as lats and longs has been degraded to only FAO region. Summarising the data in that way means it is not possible for me to use this data to inform discussion as part of the FCP process about bycatch hotspots and hot-times, so I will need that data - can you please provide all data or data on a trawl by trawl basis with catch location in lat and long to minimum 4 decimal degrees alongside the other fields you have already provided.

This point has been specifically addressed above by application of the exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs.

3. I am are extremely surprised that there is no end of project report - given >£500k of public money is spent on this project per year this appears to be extremely bad public procurement practice. Can we therefore have whatever communication you are provided with by the consultants for this work?

As previously advised, Scottish Government and the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) undertake the Scottish Demersal Joint Observer Programme. I would like to clarify that funding to SFF for the observer programme is a grant and not part of a procurement exercise. I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested above in relation to Marine Fund Scotland (MFS) grant awards (and its predecessor the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)). This includes copies of 16 progress reports submitted to us by SFF and 3 MFS progress reports. Please find items enclosed.

With regards to these reports, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information in the reports you have requested because an exception under regulation 11(2) (Personal data of a third party) of the EIRs applies to that information. An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs applies because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

4. The justification for not providing information re catch composition you have given is that this is taken as a sample and not on a per trawl basis, but given no other data has been provided on a per trawl basis this reasoning appears to be flawed, can you please provide all catch composition data collected by the observer programme from 2018 to 2023 inclusive in whatever form it is available.

The issue of providing data on a per trawl basis has been specifically addressed above by application of the exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs.

The justification for not providing catch composition data is that this is data that we do not hold as it is not collected by the observer programme. What we do collect is bycatch composition in numbers and length by species for a sample of bycatch taken from a sample of trawls.

Advice and assistance

The data requested are part of a statistical survey and the summarising of data mentioned in your review request is in fact statistical estimates calculated from the survey data, not a summary. The data are based on samples of bycatch and, as such, do not provide information of catch composition at the trawl level for these trips. Catch composition can be surmised at a wider spatial, technical and temporal scale by comparison with landings information at the same scale.

The data are collected from a sample of trawls on a sample of fishing trips, and are inherently highly variable, and can vary widely by species and length between samples. They are not intended for use at this level of disaggregation but need to be pooled into estimates at a wider spatial, technical and temporal range. Due to the high cost of data collection, and hence relatively small sample sizes, the resulting estimates can be quite variable even at an annual level and spatial areas used by International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Using these data on a finer spatial, technical or temporal scale than they were intended is likely to lead to potentially misleading results, for example, incorrectly identifying hotspots or hot-times by ascribing random variability in highly variable data to spatial, temporal or other effects.

The fine resolution at which you have requested the data has made this request manifestly unreasonable in terms of the exception at 10(4)(b) of the EIRs for the reasons set out above. Redaction of personal data would result in an incomplete data set. Requesting these data on a larger spatial, technical and temporal resolution would result in a more meaningful dataset, and would be manageable for us to respond to.

Should you wish to submit a new request for less finely resolved data we are happy to discuss with you and provide assistance as to how you could refine any new request.

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

The Scottish Government does not have the information

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested because:

EMFF funding programme
Claim form number 14 was not progressed during the Covid pandemic and no activity was therefore recorded.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception.

While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about the Fisheries Observer Programme, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202400412709 - Information Released - Progress Reports

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