Fishermen and scientists working together to improve information
about discards in the Dutch flatfish fisheries. Collaboration
between scientists and fishermen within self-sampling projects
will improve fisheries catch data, include more fishers’
knowledge and improve communication and understanding between
the two sectors. This in turn will help fisheries managers fine-
tune their policy. Our Progress So Far Self-sampling is a new
form of research cooperation which has been developed between
the Dutch fishing industry and IMARES since 2009. Self-sampling
is used as a method of gathering catch data on fishing vessels,
wherein: - fishermen collect samples of their catch - the
samples are then processed by either fishermen or scientists -
the processed samples are analysed by scientists. Because self-
sampling is much cheaper than paying onboard observers, it
results in many more samples, spread across a wider geographic
range. Our case study takes a closer look at three of these
self-sampling programmes. The fir