Jersey Fishing Boat Licences: Approval of creation of a new temporary class

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A decision made 21 July 2017:

Decision Reference: MD-PE-2017-0066
Decision Summary Title :	Approval for new class of Jersey fishing boat licence			Date of Decision Summary:	19 July 2017
Decision Summary Author:	Senior Marine and Fisheries Officer			Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (If Exempt state clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written			Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title:	Approval for new class of Jersey fishing boat licence			Date of Written Report:	19 July 2017
Written Report Author:	Senior Marine and Fisheries Officer			Written Report : Public or Exempt? (If Exempt State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public

Subject: Approval for new class of Jersey fishing boat licence.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the creation of a temporary class of fishing boat licence.
Reason(s) for decision: The Minister, mindful of the need of fishermen to be able to pursue their business and not be prevented by administrative delays by government organisations and the legal requirement to hold a fishing boat licence to bind them to the conditions attached to it, agreed to the establishment of temporary class of fishing boat licence valid for 4 weeks from the date of issue and which would become invalid in case of breach of any conditions attached thereto.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower resource implications.
Action required: Marine and Fisheries Licensing Officer to undertake the necessary administration to create a new temporary licence class.
Signature: Deputy S Luce		Position: Minister for Environment
Date Signed:			Date of Decision:

Jersey Fishing Boat Licences: Approval of creation of a new temporary class

Department of Environment

Approval of a new class of Jersey fishing boat licence.

Purpose of the Report

For the Minister to approve a new temporary licence class to enable fishing licence applicants who have submitted a complete application to fish and be subject to licence conditions whilst their application is processed.

Background

Since the introduction of the restrictive fishing licence scheme in Jersey fishermen have needed to apply for licence transfers when replacing an existing vessel or bringing a new vessel into the Jersey fleet. Licence transfers can be delayed by the complex nature of the administrative process, this often occurs at the Jersey registry where fishermen need to wait for their vessel to be inspected and issued with a certificate of registry and in recent years waiting for the issue of the parent licence by the Marine Management organisation before the Jersey Licence can be issued. Until recently Marine Resources had issued ‘a letter of authority to fish’ in cases where the licence was delayed for purely administrative reasons and where it was known that the licence fitted the vessel. This arrangement had worked well until recently when a vessel fished in breach of the licence conditions that it would have been subject to had been fully licensed. However as the vessel was fishing on a letter rather than a licence it was not possible to enforce licence conditions.

Details

Article 12 of the Sea Fisheries (Jersey) Law 1994 by way of Regulation 2 of the Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats) (Jersey) Regulations 2003 prohibits fishing in the territorial sea of Jersey fishing by a British fishing boat unless authorized by a fishing boat licence granted by the Minister. A licence issued under article 12 (7) may authorize fishing subject to such conditions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the regulating of fishing and if such a condition is not complied with, the master, the owner of the licensed vessel shall each be guilty of an offence.

Regulation 6 of the Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats) (Jersey) Regulations 2003 enables the Minister to determine any description of fishing boat licence to be a class of fishing boat licence for the purpose of the regulations. It is proposed that the Minister create a temporary licence class of fishing boat licence that could be issued in cases where applicants have completed a full application and would be subject to the normal fishing licence conditions contained within the licence schedules. It is proposed that the temporary licence be valid for a period of 4 weeks from the date of issue (or until issue of the full fishing boat licence) and would become invalid if any of the conditions attached to the licence are breached.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Minister approve a temporary licence class to enable applicants to fish commercially whilst their licence application is processed.

Written by:	Senior Marine and Fisheries Officer – Marine Resources

Approved by:	Director Environmental Management and Rural Economy

Ministerial Decision Case Ref: MD-PE-2017-0066