Exciting opportunity to manage inshore fisheries and conservation (IFCA)

The MMO has several current and upcoming general member vacancies in the ten regional IFCAs across England.

These voluntary roles require candidates who can take a balanced approach to caring for our seas, assessing the priority and importance of all users and stakeholders. It is essential that candidates have a good local knowledge of the IFCA area for which they are applying. The members of the IFCA contribute their knowledge and experience to provide sustainable management of their IFCA district.

The MMO are also accepting applications from both current and former IFCA general members who are nearing the end of their ten-year term as well as those members who have left having already served a ten-year term. Applications from these members will be considered alongside all other applicants in a fair an open competitive process and appointed on merit to ensure a fair balance of sector representation.

The role of an IFCA General Member

The members of the IFCA contribute their knowledge and experience to provide sustainable management of the inshore marine area of their IFCA district. Appointees to IFCAs are legally required to consider all the local fishing and marine conservation interests in the waters of the IFCA district in a balanced way, taking full account of the needs of the IFCA district. Appointees should recognise that they are part of a committee and should not regard themselves as representing solely one area of particular interest within the IFCA district.

As an IFCA General Member you will have the opportunity to contribute your knowledge and experience to committee meetings helping to shape and direct the work of the IFCA.

This membership puts local people in the driving seat of fisheries management and is an exciting opportunity to shape the development of inshore fisheries in your region.

As a member of an IFCA committee you will work in a team with others, helping to ensure that:

• the use of sea fisheries resources is carried out in a sustainable way and is balanced with the need to protect the marine environment or promote its recovery from, the effects of exploitation
• the different needs of those engaged in the exploitation of sea fisheries and marine resources are balanced
• the conservation objectives of marine conservation zones are achieved

Although these appointments are unpaid some local authorities pay expenses and allowances.

We seek to achieve a balanced membership across various interest groups, including but not limited to those with commercial, recreational, and environmental interests.

For a full list of IFCA’s with vacancies and application details please visit the .Gov website