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The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) is an
executive agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or No ...
of the United Kingdom government
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for environmental quality, environmenta ...
(Defra). It carries out a wide range of research, advisory, consultancy, monitoring and training activities for a large number of customers around the world. Cefas employs over 550 staff based primarily at two specialist laboratories within the UK, with additional staff based at small, port-based offices in Scarborough, Hayle, and Plymouth. In 2014 Cefas established a permanent base in the Middle East by opening an office in Kuwait, and since opened an office in Oman. They also operate an ocean-going research vessel '' Cefas Endeavour''.


Customers

The primary customer for Cefas is their parent organisation Defra. They also undertake work for international and UK government departments (central and local), the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
, the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
, the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...
(FAO), commercial organisations, non-governmental and environmental organisations, regulators and enforcement agencies, local authorities and other public bodies. There is an increasing focus on commercial research and consultancy as the level of funding available from Defra gradually reduces.


History

Known previously as the Directorate of Fisheries Research, the name and status was changed in 1997 to 'Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science' (Cefas). At this time it became an Executive Agency of what was then the
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom) The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) was a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 30) and at that time called the Board ...
and is now the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).


Lowestoft laboratory

In 1902, the
Marine Biological Association The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (MBA) is a learned society with a scientific laboratory that undertakes research in marine biology. The organisation was founded in 1884 and has been based in Plymouth since the Citadel Hil ...
opened a sub-station in
Pakefield Pakefield is a suburb of the town of Lowestoft, in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is located around south of the centre of the town. It 2011 the ward had a population of 6,563. Pakefield has boundaries with Carlton Colvill ...
a suburb of
Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...
,
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
to research the
Fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity that takes, cultures, processes, preserves, stores, transports, markets or sells fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including recreational, sub ...
. This was part of the UK contribution to the newly created
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES; , ''CIEM'') is a regional fishery advisory body and the world's oldest intergovernmental science organization. ICES is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, where its multinational s ...
(ICES). By 1921 the station had been expanded to include a laboratory with experimental facilities. Early research was focused on aspects of the marine biology of the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
. During the 1920s and 1930s biological studies expanded, the theory of fishing was developed and forecasting fish stocks became routine. In 1927–1928 Michael Graham was dispatched from the Lowestoft laboratory by the
Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...
and conducted the first ever systematic
Fisheries Survey of Lake Victoria Lake Victoria supports Africa's largest inland fishery, with the majority of present catch being the invasive Nile perch, introduced to the Lake in the 1950s. Prior to the introduction of Nile perch as well as Nile tilapia, the fish community was ...
.Graham M. (1929.) The Victoria Nyanza and Its Fisheries: A Report on the Fish Survey of Lake Victoria 1927–1928 and Appendices. London: Crown Agents for the Colonies. 256pp. After the second world war, radiobiological facilities were installed to advise on the safe disposal of radioactive substances at sea. Research aboard the newly acquired Arctic-going Research Vessel Ernest Holt established an important link between fishable
cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...
concentrations and water temperatures and identified cod migration routes. The migration routes of plaice stocks were identified and the deterioration in the North Sea herring fishery was investigated. From this ground-breaking work came theories of fishing and fish population trends that have become international recognised. The laboratory moved to its current site on the cliffs in the
Kirkley Kirkley is an area of the town of Lowestoft in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located south of the centre of Lowestoft and the town's harbour and Lake Lothing. Kirkley was originally an independent village b ...
area 1955. The site was expanded in the 1960s and 1980s to meet the needs of emerging work programmes monitoring the quality of the marine environment. Although the period 1964–1982 probably saw the fullest flowering of fisheries research, per se, at Lowestoft, the increasing awareness of both politicians and the public about the importance of maintaining the quality of the marine environment, meant that an increasing proportion of the work programme of that period was devoted to problems associated with investigating both radioactive and non-radioactive contamination at sea.


Conwy laboratory

Research at
Conwy Conwy (, ), previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town, community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy ...
started in 1918 to find a more effective method of
mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...
purification. The Conway Corporation mussel purification tanks were taken over by the then Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and research. Research expanded into developing
hatchery A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ''ex situ'' conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled ...
culture techniques, initially on the native
oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...
, and subsequently, in the 1960s, on the
Pacific oyster The Pacific oyster, Japanese oyster, or Miyagi oyster (''Magallana gigas'') is an oyster native to the Pacific coast of Asia. It has become an introduced species in North America, Australia, Europe, and New Zealand. Etymology The genus ''Magal ...
, work which now forms the basis of the UK bivalve cultivation industry. The laboratory was expanded in the 1970s in order to increase the capacity to research other aspects of shellfish cultivation. This included responsibilities for dealing with ecological and management problems in various shellfisheries. More recent research shifted emphasis away from shellfish cultivation to the ecology of coastal waters and coastal zone management. This work was transferred to the Weymouth laboratory when the Conwy facilities were closed in 2000.


Weymouth laboratory

The Weymouth laboratory was established in 1969 with four staff, specifically to study the cause of a disease in
salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
. The laboratory was expanded in the 1970s and 1980s to investigate serious disease risks threatening the expanding fish farming industry. During the 1980s research shifted towards determining drug residues in fish for human consumption and environmental problems associated with release of medicines from fish farms. Further expansion occurred during the 90s from new inspection and monitoring responsibilities stemming from EC directives. These dealt with marine and freshwater fish health, and microbiological hygiene of molluscan shellfish. This resulted in the existing facilities becoming over stretched. In 1994 a new laboratory, housing state-of the art equipment and the most modern facilities, was opened. The Weymouth Laboratory is the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
and UK national reference laboratory for monitoring bacteriological and viral contamination of bivalve molluscs.


Fish Health Inspectorate

The Weymouth Laboratory is the base for the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI). FHI's primary role is undertake statutory and inspection duties resulting from the EU Fish Health regime and other national legislation in the area of fish and shellfish health. The Inspectorate also licenses and monitors imports of fish and shellfish from other countries and runs an enforcement programme aimed at preventing the illegal importation of these animals.


Burnham-on-Crouch laboratory

The Burnham laboratory was established in 1953 as the Ministry's first-ever purpose-built fisheries laboratory. The role of the laboratory was expanded in 1957 to cover work on pollution, and by the mid-60s began to take the lead in the investigation of environmental protection problems, with the exception of those arising from
radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...
. Early studies concentrated on determining the toxic effects of various contaminants and surveying their levels in coastal waters and inshore fisheries. By 1970, the general aim of the work had become the establishing of the effects on commercial fish and shellfish resources of disposal of wastes, mineral and hydrocarbon extraction, and engineering and development work. This involved environmental impact assessments and a major monitoring programme. The Burnham Laboratory hosts the UK Offshore Chemical Notification Scheme which manages chemical use and discharge by the UK offshore petroleum industry. The scheme is regulated by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), using scientific and environmental advice from Cefas and the Fisheries Research Services (FRS). The laboratory was closed in December 2008 and the work moved to the Lowestoft Laboratory.


Ships

Ships that have been operated by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science:


Notable alumni

*
Ray Beverton Raymond (Ray) John Heaphy Beverton CBE FRS (29 August 1922 – 23 July 1995) was an important founder of fisheries science. He is best known for the book ''On the Dynamics of Exploited Fish Populations''Beverton, R. J. H., and Holt, S. J. 1957 ...
FRS, co-author of the groundbreaking book ''On the Dynamics of Exploited Fish Populations'' in 1957Beverton, R. J. H., and Holt, S. J. 1957. On the Dynamics of Exploited Fish Populations. Fishery Investigations Series II. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, London. 533 pp. * David Cushing FRS, credited with development of the match/mismatch hypothesis as an explanation for how poor stock recruitment can be associated with climatic variability and a lack of plankton resources for fish larvae. *
Walter Garstang Walter Garstang Fellow of the Linnean Society, FLS Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, FZS (9 February 1868 – 23 February 1949), a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford and Professor of Zoology at the University of Leeds, was one of the ...
, poet and naturalist, who established the laboratory in 1902 on behalf of the
Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (MBA) is a learned society with a scientific laboratory that undertakes research in marine biology. The organisation was founded in 1884 and has been based in Plymouth since the Citadel Hil ...
. * Michael Graham CMG OBE, former director of the Lowestoft fisheries laboratory (1945–1958). His classic book, “The Fish Gate”, published in 1943, paints a picture of the near collapse of the British fishing industry, through overfishing, that occurred before both the First and the Second World Wars. *John Gulland FRS, distinguished mathematician who worked on fisheries stock assessments and whaling. *Sir
Alister Hardy Sir Alister Clavering Hardy (10 February 1896 – 22 May 1985) was a British Marine biology, marine biologist, an expert on marine ecosystems spanning organisms from zooplankton to whales. He had the artistic skill to illustrate his books with h ...
FRS, who while working for the laboratory studied North Sea herring and developed the Continuous Plankton Recorder. *
Ernest William Lyons Holt Ernest William Lyons Holt or E. W. L. Holt (17 October 1864 – 10 June 1922) was an English marine naturalist and biologist who specialized in ichthyology, the study of fish. His work helped lay a scientific foundation for the fishery m ...
, who worked until 1894 in Grimsby, where he was in charge of a newly opened research station for the North Sea (forerunner of the laboratory in Lowestoft). *
Sidney Holt Sidney J. Holt (28 February 1926 – 22 December 2019) was a British biologist who was a founder of fisheries science. He was best known for the book ''On the Dynamics of Exploited Fish Populations'' which he published with Ray Beverton in 1957.Be ...
, co-author of the groundbreaking book ''On the Dynamics of Exploited Fish Populations'' in 1957 *
Rosa Lee Rosa Mabel Lee (1884-1976) was a British statistician, the first woman scientist to be employed by the Marine Biological Association and the first woman to work as a government fishery scientist in the United Kingdom. Lee studied the growth o ...
, the first woman scientist employed by the
Marine Biological Association The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (MBA) is a learned society with a scientific laboratory that undertakes research in marine biology. The organisation was founded in 1884 and has been based in Plymouth since the Citadel Hil ...
and the first woman to work as a government fishery scientist in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. * E. S. Russell OBE, former director of the Lowestoft fisheries laboratory (1921–1945). * John Shepherd FRS, Deputy Director of the fisheries laboratory in Lowestoft, specialising in the marine disposal of radioactive waste, mathematical modelling of fishing fleet operations, and fish population dynamics. Emeritus Professor of Earth System Science, School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton * Dorothy Thursby-Pelham, ‘England’s first female sea-going fisheries scientist’ who carried out exhaustive studies of North Sea plaice and was an active member of the
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES; , ''CIEM'') is a regional fishery advisory body and the world's oldest intergovernmental science organization. ICES is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, where its multinational s ...
in the 1920s.


Cefas Technology Limited

Cefas Technology Limited (CTL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cefas that specialises in the application of Cefas technology to specific customer needs in a cost-effective and focussed manner. CTL was formed in order to utilise the intellectual property of Cefas, something that was difficult to achieve with Cefas's current legal status as an
executive agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or No ...
.


See also

* :Ships of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science


References


External links


Official siteCefas Technology LtdRegistry of Aquatic PathologyDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (parent organisation)
{{Authority control Biology organisations based in the United Kingdom Fisheries science Lowestoft Executive agencies of the United Kingdom government