Scottish Sea Fisheries Employment Report
This report details the findings of a new survey of crews on Scottish fishing vessels. It provides new information across a range of indicators such as age, nationality, job tenure and skills.
Qualitative Responses
This final section presents qualitative data on perceptions of the industry, providing important evidence about people's opinions on the key challenges facing crewing in the industry. The evidence illustrate the wide variation in people's perceptions and experiences which in some cases is in contrast to the conclusions of the quantitative data presented above.
10. Recruitment and Retention
Three key issues around the challenges of recruitment are raised in all sectors which are: 1) low wages; 2) competition with other, better paying, marine industries especially oil and gas and; 3) an unwillingness for local crews to work in what is a physically demanding industry requiring unsocial working hours.
Pots and Traps: Particular issues for the Pots and Traps sector in recruiting and retaining crews were: low wages (often associated with part time working) which are sometimes insufficient as a single income; an unwillingness of crew to relocate to fishing towns; difficulty in recruiting part time crews ;and negative perceptions of the industry in the local area (Table 4). On the positive side, some respondents reflected that they had no problem with recruitment as there was minimal crew requirement on small vessels and also that crews were generally loyal.
Table 4: Recruitment challenges for Pots and Trap vessels
| Problems with recruitment 1. Competition with other marine industries - renewables, ferries - better time off, salary etc. 2. Availability of keen young men, who are willing to go to sea. No local lads around. Had to go single handed last year as there were no crew available. 3. Being able to pay them a reasonable wage for the hours required. 4. Must have knowledge of industry and be available to work when conditions allow. Difficult for people with loans and mortgages to work on creel boat. 5. Overfishing means low confidence in the fishery. 6. Too difficult to rely on fishing for 100% of income. 7. Too many issues / restrictions in fishing nowadays. No real hope for an improved fishery. 8. Not willingness to relocate to small fishing town. 9. Do not make enough steady income to take someone on full time and cover operating costs. Part time crew are hard to find. 10. Fleet itself is too old. Boys don't want to work on old boats. 11. Industry is not attractive. Too much pub chat stating how bad the fishing is. 12. UK boys totally unreliable and not wanting to work hard. Unreliability. Training them up and then they leave without notice. |
No problems with recruitment 1. Alright the way it is, finding crew is ok. 2. None - not enough capacity for crew on such a small vessel. 3. Not many. Have had same crew for 5 years. Can be difficult to find crew at short notice to step in if normal crew member is sick. 4. Other industries more attractive but recruit and retain personally not a problem. 5. No concern. Single handed as there is no money to pay for extra hands. 6. None - had same crew for many years. 7. Not an issue for me but generally there is no space for new guys to fish as the static gear fishery is overfished / creels (should be restricted) |
Demersal (<24m): Demersal (<24m) appear to suffer from the three challenges discussed in the introduction section (low wages, competition with other marine industries and unwillingness from locals). For this sector foreign crews have offered other options which have relived the pressures for many (Table 5).
Table 5: Recruitment challenges for demersal (<24m) vessels
| Problems with recruitment 1. Hard to get Visa for Filipinos. No locals want to get into fishing. 2. Just impossible! Only people that would want to fish you know would be no use. 3. Local crew are not reliable for turning up for sailing / working low wages. Foreign crew are reliable, turn up when required. Trialled 3 local crew… doing 4 days at sea, 95% of the time had to stay in bed. 4. No young lads. 1 year ago couldn't find Shetlanders so had to take Filipinos. 5. Normally have local crew but the oil and gas industry lures them away. Can get three foreign crew for 1 local. 6. Not so many people coming aboard. Oil pressure. Uncertainty. Not as hard in oil. |
No problems with recruitment 1. No real issues. Same crew for years. 2. Not a problem as recruiting foreign crew. They are good workers and have been here a few years. |
Demersal (>24m, seiners, and pair trawl): Challenges specific to the demersal (>24m, seiner and pair trawl) are finding crew with suitable qualifications (especially engineers) and supporting a vision of progression which may result in ownership in the future (Table 6). This sector also have a high proportion of vessels saying they did not have an major issue with recruitment due to retention of current crews and the options of foreign workers.
Table 6: Recruitment challenges for demersal (>24m, seiners and pair trawl) vessels
| Problems with recruitment 1. Can't see future in the industry. Too many problems for new guys to see possibility of having their own boat. Finding trained guys difficult. 2. Experience. All done through an agent. Some don't have experience on large boats so struggle to keep up. Often qualified but without proper training. 3. Few young people. Hard to find people with C1 Engineering qualification in Scotland. 4. No young British coming through damages the future. Oil industry. British crew want regular pay and can't offer that. Scottish crew don't want to work. 5. Wages low. Quota leasing reduces available funds. Prices down. More fishing means more leasing to make it pay. 6. Depends on the Skipper - good boat, good gross, good crew. Lack of days at sea. 7. There are no crew locally. Real concern for lack of engineers. Taking on sub-standard and under trained crew. |
No problems with recruitment 1. No, had same crew for a long time, but main concern is drugs 2. Not really, lack of experienced locals. Foreign crews no issues. 3. Local crew so no issues at the moment. No youngsters in industry due to uncertainty. Concern about future of industry. 4. No real issues as has long-term crew. If it wasn't for Filipinos there would be big problems. 5. No real issues. Engineers are a problem. |
Nephrops trawl: Challenges specific to the Nephrops vessels is not only are they are competing with other marine industries but also with larger fishing vessel that can offer better wages and that they are highly dependent of family to crew and take over business (Table 7). Drink and drug problems were more regularly mentioned in this sector than others and finding crew with the correct qualification and skills.
Table 7: Recruitment challenges for Nephrops vessels
| Problems with recruitment 1. Finding experienced crew locally as most would rather work larger boats with better income. 2. Can't afford to pay them regularly. Prices of overheads too high. 3. British crew don't want to work so have to go for foreign workers. 4. Hard to find capable staff. Capable locals go to oil. No future unless family. Local recruitment is not possible (for nearly 15 years). 5. Having enough income to pay for local crew is an issue. Filipino crew on contracts is about all that can be afforded. Rest of the crew is family. 6. Often local lads outcompeted by cheaper wages of foreign lads especially for larger boats. 7. Problem with finding sober and drug free and completed all certificates (local and foreign). 8. Too much pressure from oil. Anyone with any sense coming up would go into oil therefore anyone with good/relevant skills goes offshore 9. Can't get right skills. No help from government / Seafish. No money. 10. Drugs and alcohol main issues. Reliability and lost time at sea. 11. No local crew as the financial rewards are not there. No regular income. No real issues with foreign crew (Reliable). 12. Nobody wants to do job - days at sea is a big problem. |
No problems with recruitment 1. Finding appropriate crew is ok for small trawler. Has had the same deckhand for a few years. 2. No issues with foreign crew. 3. Always been lucky as its word-of-mouth generally and the foreign crew have been retained for long periods of time. 4. No issue. Long standing crew. 5. No need as father & son team. Lucky to have sons as sons don't often go into the industry anymore. |
Scallop dredge: For scallop dredgers the main three issues discussed above are the key challenges as well as the costs of training for crews. Many boats however also said they have no problem with recruitment (Table 8).
Table 8: Recruitment challenges for scallops vessels
| Problems with recruitment 1. Nobody available to take on. Have to find crew through agencies. 2. Lack of experience and cost of training courses, health and safety courses. 3. Finding crew that work hard. Would prefer to take on young lads, but after training costs might decide after a week that they don't like the job. 4. Finding boys willing to work hard and consistently. UK boys too lazy. 5. Lack of people being prepared to work (Locals). Reliability of being there for sailing. Usually drink and drugs. No foreign crew. |
No problems with recruitment 1. No issues with recruiting. Had the same crew for 25 years. 2. No real issues as constant crew. 3. No problems for me. |
The challenges for crew retention are similar to those in recruitment such as low wages and hard working conditions. Below are some other issues highlighted by respondents in the different sectors (Table 9).
Table 9: Quotes on retention challenge for all sectors beyond low wages, and hardworking conditions
| Problems with retention Pots and Traps 1. Crew know the boat and the industry so difficult to keep them happy if fishing is bad. 2. Hard work and there is no guaranteed reward. Unpredictable 3. Struggle to offer good steady wage compared to other industries or vessels. 4. Job satisfaction - people see other boats making more than them. Demersal (<24m) 1. Local crew are not interested in working - want the wages without the effort. Retaining foreign crew is not a problem. Demersal (>24m, seiner and pair trawl) 1. Deckhands easier to retain. Mates & Engineers harder to retain. Wages have a several year downward trend. 2. Filipino crew - great retention (very reliable). EU guys drink too much. Local lads - we are lucky as ours are too old to move to oil. 3. Hard to keep good engineers due to oil pressure. Pay for training. Difficult to find good Filipino engineers as most have only worked on small boats. Nephrops Trawl 1. Contracted crew are difficult to retain sometimes of the year or towards the ends of contract period. 2. When some are trained up and gained certification and experience they will leave with certification for better paid jobs in oil and gas sector. 3. Trying to keep them regularly working as they often 'hit the bottle'. Skippers are easier to retain. 4. Being able to maintain a good wage level. Having decent food and amenities to enable crew to enjoy coming to work. 5. Crew members will move around the sector. Usually Jan-Feb when prices drop crew will leave. 6. Length of Visas for foreigners creates recruitment problems. It's just impossible to get locals who are drug and alcohol free. 7. Problem getting young people. Get paid decent wages but no time to spend it. Scallop Dredge 1. Train boys too well so they leave and buy and skipper their own boats. 2. Foreign crew often work for a season before leaving. Need to have good incentives to stay. Not enough comfort and income for hours worked. |
No problems with retention Pots and Traps 1. Never had problem. Treat them well so they stay. 2. Not an issue. Work with family and friends if needed. Demersal (<24m) 1. Not really, paying enough so they don't go to oil. Time off comparable to oil industry. 2. No issues. Doesn't apply to this boat. 3. Not a problem. Have had the same crew for 16 years. Demersal (>24m, seiner and pair trawl) 1. Easier to retain Filipinos because they're contracted. Often renew. 2. Keep a steady crew because low quota leasing. Don't need to fish with owned quota. Knock on effect to onshore industry. 3. No real issue as has long-term crew but if they left would sell boat rather than recruit. 4. No real issues. Filipinos good replacement. Making good money. Even if work hard, well paid crew. Family crew. 5. No major problems. Set wages & bonus. Consistent pay helps crew. Nephrops Trawl 1. Generally ok, with good connections, and word of mouth for good crew. 2. No major issues with Filipinos, not enough money for local crews 3. Same seven crew for years. 4. year crew. Close knit team with same outlook. 5. No problems - fair to crew. Scallop Dredge 1. Good close relationship with crew. Both interested in making boat successful. 2. Lucky - generally not had problem |
For improving recruitment and retention a number of ideas were proposed and are listed below (Table 10). This includes: ideas around improved advertising; better training for new crew; bettering marketing and creating demand; improvements in management; rewards and subsides and lastly on avenues for improving the hiring for foreign workers.
Table 10: Ideas for improvements in recruitment and retention of crews
| Advertising A decent free jobs board, like gumtree, for crew and skippers. Have sector specific recruitment websites (creel, whitefish, prawn etc.) with the required qualifications identified for each one clearly. Training Apprenticeships. Grants for new crew training. Expand training programmes and college schemes. More training schools like Whitby College that give 1 year solid fishing training, more grants and start-up grants etc. Seafish need to standardise certifications with RYA so young lads can use qualifications elsewhere if needed. Seafish courses are better but are not recognised in commercial sector. Markets Minimum pricing for shellfish to prevent middlemen strangling supply. Better market for UK crab within British shops. Get Jamie Oliver onside and a create a demand trend - make young lads excited to get into creeling. Better market options. Support to help reach new markets. Management Management needs to make it easier to fish for fisherman at present it's just too difficult. Change rules and regs so can actually fish properly. To help small boats there should be a quota put on crabs etc. Bigger boats with few crew damage the stock and flood the market - reduces market price and makes it hard to make money. Too many people getting involved i.e. government, organisations etc. Used to be a normal job where you could just go and fish. Government needs to stop fixating on whitefish boys and start thinking about <10s before it's too late. Long term management plans - cannot plan more than 1 year in advance and the system of deciding in December is a shambles. Science is 3 years behind so management not always in line with what is actually happening Redistribute quota to actual fishermen which would improve profits and ensure some long term security for the industry. Rewards and Grants/Subsides Reward responsible and sustainable fishing with fuel subsidies and help with sourcing sustainable bait. Government could provide subsidies for fuel to improve recruitment. Grants for start-up may help smaller fleet. Grants would help re-attract boys wanting to live back on the island. Be a good idea to have a body that can provide loans to young skippers to get started. Perhaps after a mandatory 2 years fishing. Foreign Crews Customs rules could change to make it easier to recruit foreigners. Boats couldn't work without foreigners so need better rules. 12 mile rule problematic. Would also help inshore boats. |
Skipper were asked what are the key factor that motivate their decision on whether they recruit local or foreign crews (Table 11). The majority said they favoured local crews mainly due to communication from a health and safety perspective as well as for creating a good working atmosphere on the vessel and 'good banter'. Many also like the fact that they are support local communities and offering opportunity to people who wish to remain in coastal communities. They also felt local crews are more able to response to changes in fishing activity, whilst foreign crew are there to work full time. Other discussed logistical challenges with foreign crews such as accommodation, paper work and issues around dealing with agencies who may not be treating foreign crews fairly.
In favour of foreign crew, the main factor was the lower cost of wages relative to local crews. Many respondents also commented on the high quality seamanship and good work ethic associated with foreign crews. Many respondents also noted that foreign crews are less likely to drink alcohol, unlike local crews for whom substance abuse is considered a bigger issue which compromises safety and time at sea. A number of respondents stated that they had no preference between foreign and local crews as long as the work is good and crew are reliable.
Table 11: Key factors for preferring to recruit foreign or local crews
| Preference for local crew 1. Always tried to keep it local as foreign crew on a small boat is a lot of paperwork hassle. 2. Communication barrier could be a problem as fishing is a dangerous job - so always try to take local crews. 3. Don't like foreign crew idea as involves agency and often they don't pay foreign lads enough. 4. Has to be local as boat is too small to host crew overnight. 5. If it improves financially then it would be local crew over foreign to help the community keep its heritage. 6. Language barrier - prefer local as can chat, makes job more enjoyable. Like to be able to chat to crew, language barrier can be an issue. Good to have a happy ship and locals get on well 7. Local crew know the waters, navigation of obstacles and weather conditions better. 8. Not a fan of employing foreign crew. Denies opportunity to local lads through competition. 9. Prefer local - get on well. Keeps money in local economy. 10. Uses local crew as better when fishing is interrupted. 11. Can split crew and give better wage. Foreign staff a short term fix - cheaper but feel guilty as they are just as skilled - wouldn't ask to stay long term. 12. Give young locals a chance. Gives industry a future. 13. Better with local - language barrier - safety problems with foreign if don't understand 14. Feel good factor of getting on with crew who are local. 15. No way foreign crew. It's just slave labour - should get the same pay as everyone else. |
Preference for foreign crew 1. Foreign are cheaper as long as they know what they are doing 2. Foreigners will work all day in any conditions 3. Wages cheaper therefore more attractive for skippers as it means expenses are less. 4. Almost always foreign as the vessel needs to keep fishing and cannot find local crew in enough numbers and regularly. 5. Filipinos are amazing workers. Always clean, happy and don't drink. Their wages are so much cheaper. 6. Filipinos more glad to have job. Less bother. 7. If no locals available then foreign crew is great. Filipinos are very honest, hardworking and don't drink. 8. Some locals can be unreliable. Foreign crew you can rely on to be there for sailing. 9. Couldn't get local crew of employable quality. Local available youth - drink, drugs, social problems. 10. Foreign - there all the time. Nice people willing to work and no other option. Skill levels same as locals. Too hard to find locals. 11. All foreign crew. Very reliable - sober, drug free and willing to do whatever is asked. |
No preference 1. Boat runs well with Filipinos. Willing and reliable. Good balance of both (local and foreign) is most successful. Foreign staff not so good in charge. 2. No preference as long as reliable and work well 3. No real factors. Crew must be trained and qualified with some experience needed. Other than that no difference between local and foreign. 4. Money is the major issue when considering to take on foreign or local. 5. Will take on available crew, foreign or local if they are experienced or even if they learn quickly and are working on qualifications 6. Would prefer crew on share scheme to add incentive to want to fish more. Local or foreign doesn't matter. 7. Only factor is will they work. Not picky. Need to commit for a good length of time. Local lads often give up after a short time if they don't like it. |
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