The Fisheries Observer

Ruth Hicks our fisheries observer, says 'people are surprised when she says she's been out on a fishing trawler for a week, but more and more women are coming into the job now'. We follow her working on a fisheries science partnership, with fisherman Mark Cornwell and his crew, out of West Bay, (Bridport) looking at an issue - the discard ban, which could seriously impact the livelihoods of many small fisherman -especially those in mixed fisheries like Mark. It's a fascinating story and as Liseve, Ruth's co worker says ‘there's a lot fishermen can teach us and working together we get the best blend of information and knowledge and sharing.’ In this case if, the scientific data proves what the fishermen are saying anecdotally -then there's a chance for a win all round - including the fish!
Music is by Audio Network

[@nilberquier2713]

Brilliant relationship. Good on the boys for taking the researchers on board to start and good on the girls for being supporting the job with excellent and mutually beneficial. Well done

[@user-ng5to8mm7k]

Best experience. I am a Pacific Island Regional Fisheries Observer which usually boarded Purse Seine, Longliners. Hoping to have an experience on trawlers etc...Thnks for the video which is very interesting to discover observers task on different gear types from the other end of the world...Cheers✌️

[@dorsetcoastforum4847]

Great to hear from you - thanks for your comment 😀

[@danielperry8532]

I just got a career as an at sea observer, and I'm so curious about it and excited to start.

[@jeffthibault6486]

Congratulations! I have my interview tomorrow seems very interesting!

[@randall777]

Well, how is it?

[@danielperry8532]

@randall77 it wasn't bad. However, it's not my cup of tea. I am very happy I had the experience, though. It was a great experience. I worked with snow crab. Thanks for asking. I am trying to move on now to a different career path. However, if someone likes boats, science, and fishing, this would be a perfect job for them. I really think what made it so unenjoyable for me was I didn't have any guidance. They wanted me to learn everything from the book and then apply it. There's a lot of paperwork, and they never showed me how to actually do anything. If I had someone out there helping and instructing the first few times, I would have liked it a lot more. It was really hard to apply what I read when I never did it before.

[@randall777]

@danielperry8532 yeah not having guidance is tough, good luck in your future endeavors!

[@haileysasa4446]

Kudos to you twos

[@MrAlleluia00]

I'm applying for an observer job and I wanted to learn more about the day to day. Especially since all the reviews for the company I saw were either overly negative or overly positive.

[@matthewminshall4608]

Was wondering if you had any more info on if you got the job and the company you were applying for? I am currently in the same position as you as the company I am applying for has a lot of negative reviews and I don't know what a typical day would look like

[@rubenluna3061]

This is awesome, i wonder if foreing biologist can apply for this job?

[@ikanasin7987]

hi ruth, im observer from indonesia.

[@patrickbodenham6879]

bottom trawling catches rubbish so it’s good for the environment ... never heard so much rubbish! These trawlers decimate sea floor ecosystems, towing iron bars across fragile reefs and over sediments releasing carbon. Most of these discarded fish will die.