Established in 1986 by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), SFF Services (SFFSL) provides offshore marine industries with a range of both vessel and personnel services. Not only has this benefited the offshore energy sector and the marine environment, but it has also helped secure the future of Scottish fishing by keeping the fleet viable during a period when fundamental restructuring of fisheries management has dramatically reduced fishing opportunities while fish stocks steadily rebuild. Over 500 different fishing vessels have undertaken work (>75,000 days at sea) through SFFSL since 2001. The Company has grown to one which provides professional vessel and offshore personnel services throughout the Scottish sector of the UK Continental Shelf and beyond. Fishing Vessels have been primarily procured by client companies as Guard Vessels to provide protection for vulnerable subsea infrastructure such as pipelines under construction, wellheads awaiting full protection, power, telecommunication and umbilical cables. Specifically in relation to seismic activity, the Company provides Support (Chase) Vessels and Fisheries Liaison Officers (FLO), aboard Seismic Survey Vessels, to liaise with marine traffic encountered during the course of survey operations. In addition to the FLO role, personnel are provided to undertake environmental work, such as Marine Mammal Observers (MMO) and Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) operatives. Vessels are also used to undertake post decommissioning trawl sweeps, overtrawlability verification work and a variety of environmental monitoring activities. The Company has a wide range of SFF member fishing vessels to call upon, from under 10m up to 75m+. Underpinning the services it provides through its member vessels and experienced offshore personnel, the Company has progressively worked to improve underlying QHSE standards and is ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001 certified. The Company is FPAL Verified and Achilles Qualified.
