North Western Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority 18 Science Research We have a number of research priorities for 2024/25 to support our fisheries and marine environmental management work. However, as it is a requirement under IFCA Success Criterion 5, a separate Research Plan will be developed and published which will lay out our objectives and priorities in this area. Lead Officer: Head of Science Academic Partnerships Despite adding an additional Science Officer to our ranks last year, and whilst we continue to deliver our statutory requirements in this area, it is apparent that we do not have the resources to do everything we would like to do across our fisheries and marine environmental scientific work. Therefore, in 2024/25, we will look to explore the potential for developing our relationships with academic institutions in the North West, to see if there are opportunities to support one another in specific scientific projects and provide the Authority with an even greater evidence base from which to make its environmental management decisions. Lead Officer: Head of Science Enforcement New Intel Database As part of a joint project with the MMO, all IFCAs are procuring a new intelligence database to help improve intel reporting, processing and sharing across England. It is expected that this new system will be available to IFCAs early in the year, and so in the proceeding months, NWIFCA will be focussed on implementing the system internally, ensuring it is secure and operationally sound and that officers are trained in using it to record, report, and analyse intel. Lead Officer: Head of Enforcement New Permit Database Another joint project between the IFCAs is the development of a new database to support our respective workstreams around permitting. Alongside Sussex IFCA, NWIFCA has been one of the frontrunners in the development and procurement of this new system, and in the previous year, officers spent a good deal of time working with the database’s developers to ensure it was fit for purpose for the Authority. The database is expected to go live in early 2024/25 and so we will be working to ensure its smooth implementation into our operational and administrative practices in order to maximise its benefits to our work; this will include training all staff on how to use it. As it is also an external-facing system, to be used by permit holders who submit statutory returns data, we will also provide appropriate guidance and training to those stakeholders and maintain ongoing support to them to ensure their effective, timely and compliant use of it. Lead Officer: Head of Administration
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