News release, October 2011

Southern Group Training Association Celebrates 30^th Anniversary With

New Funding Opportunities for Fishermen.

The Southern Fish Industry Training Association was set up in 1981 as part of a network of Group Training Associations, with funding assistance from the then White Fish Authority in order to provide cost effective training for commercial fishermen in the south east of England. As a non-profit making organisation, the aim was to organise and run safety training anywhere in the region so that fishermen could attend with minimum disruption to their fishing operations. Administrative support funding continued when the White Fish Authority became what we know today as Seafish. Over the years the GTA has provided training for thousands of fishermen throughout the region, and has run several very successful skipper projects funded under PESCA and more recently, FIFG, which also provided free training safety training courses for new entrants to the industry up until the end of 2009.

In 2010 Seafish support funding ended, and today the GTA is managing to run successfully with a combination of “paid for” training and funded projects organised through the good offices of Seafish and their funding partners.

Alan Sandham, training manager for the Southern GTA said “2010 was a challenging year for us, with the removal of our support funding, and also challenging for new entrants to the industry looking for work. To this end, Seafish has recently updated all of the basic safety courses, and has announced a funded project paying for all experienced fishermen to renew and update their safety training certificates free of charge. In order to make this more worthwhile for the industry in our region, for every fisherman who attends free refresher training, we will subsidise one person who attends with him, with just a small administration fee of £20 payable to help with our administration costs.” “in order to qualify for free refresher training, each fisherman must have attended all four basic courses, including Safety Awareness, and must produce an original certificate for renewal which must be at least three years old. This promotional trial will run for the rest of the 2011 financial year – up to 31 March 2012 and if it proves to be a success, further funding will be sought in order to continue it throughout 2012”.

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Seafish is also introducing a new course entitled  “Introduction to Fishing” – a three week course, which also includes safety training during the final week.  Applicants can contact either Seafish or their local GTA for further information.

In association with Seafish, we are planning to introduce a new Introduction to Commercial Fishing training course covering 3 weeks of valuable training for those wishing to join the commercial fishing industry.

Topics include:

Ropes, Knots and Fishing Gear

Watchkeeping and Navigation

Basic Engineering

Care of the Catch & Food Hygiene

Boat Handling & Stability

The final week involves basic safety training with certificates in Sea Survival, Health & Safety, First Aid and Firefighting.

Courses will run from October 2011 and will be supplied free of charge for successful applicants.  Applicants must be resident in the southh of England and must be of school leaving age.

Please email us on the link below to register your interest