Draft Fish Farming Licence Jersey Oyster Company.

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A decision made (13-6-2008) regarding: Draft Fish Farming Licence Jersey Oyster Company.

Decision Reference: MD-E-2008-0119
Decision Summary Title :	Draft Fish Farming Licence JOC		Date of Decision Summary:	09/06/08
Decision Summary Author:	Greg Morel		Decision Summary: Public or 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 :	Draft Fish Farming Licence JOC		Date of Written Report:	09/06/08
Written Report Author:	Greg Morel		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Publication of draft fish farming licence
Decision(s): The Minister approved the publication of the draft fish farming licence to the Jersey Oyster Company Ltd
Reason(s) for Decision: The Minister is responsible for the issue of fish farming licences on the seabed under the Sea Fisheries (Establishment and Regulations of Fisheries)(Jersey) Regulations 1998. The regulation states that the draft licence should be published in the Jersey Gazette to allow comments to be received from the general public. The application was considered by the Fisheries and Marine Resources Advisory Panel on 4 June 2008 and the Panel agreed to recommend to the Minister that the draft licence be published in the Gazette. After publication the Department will assess the replies then advise the Minister accordingly
Resource Implications: There are no financial or man power implications
Action required: Greg Morel, Fisheries Officer, to organise publication in the JEP Gazette
Signature: Senator Philip Ozouf		Position: Minister for Economic Development
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Draft Fish Farming Licence Jersey Oyster Company.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Authorisation to publish draft application for fish farm concession

Purpose of the Report

The Minister is responsible for the issue of fish farming licences on the seabed under the Sea Fisheries (Establishment and Regulations of Fisheries)(Jersey) Regulations 1998. An application for a concession has been received by the Department and this report details the application and makes a recommendation of approval for the first stage of the application process.

Background

The above regulation specifies that if the Minister is in agreement a concession application must be presented in a set format. The regulation states that an application should be published in the Jersey Evening Post Gazette to allow comments to be received from the general public. If comments are received they are then put before an independent adviser. The Minister then reviews the application in light of public opinion which is vetted by the independent adviser

Details

An application for an intertidal fish farm concession from the Jersey Oyster Company (JOC) was considered by the Fisheries and Marine Resources Panel on Wednesday 6 February 2008. The Jersey Oyster Company is a well established and successful fish farm enterprise currently farming over 26 hectares and producing in excess of 300 tons of shellfish per annum.. After discussion the Panel decided that a site visit was required to advise on this application. The visit occurred on Tuesday 25 March 2008. During the period between the Panel and the site visit the JOC acquired Jersiaise Fluke Ltd, another fish farm enterprise with an intertidal concession alongside the site detailed in the application considered on 6 February.

In light of this, an amended application was considered by the Fisheries and Marine Resources Panel on Wednesday 9 April 2008. This application essentially extended the JOC concession that was previously held by Jersiaise Fluke Ltd. The application also proposed that the JOC would relinquish an area of concession at Le Hocq measuring 1.5 hectares and the holding area previously used by Jersiaise Fluke Ltd. Some members of the Panel expressed concerns about the lack of gaps between concessions and the potential impact on some inshore fishermen who claimed some fishing occurred there.

In light of these concerns an additional amended application was considered by the Panel on Wednesday 4 June 2008. This application proposed moving the proposed concession approximately 50m to the north. This would create a much wider gap between the concession and the neighbouring concession which would assist the inshore fishermen. It would also join together two concessions now operated by the JOC which would assist their operations. This area between the two concessions to be joined is apparently not used by fishermen and the gap is not required.

This application would create a concession with an area of 12 hectares. Of this 7.9 hectares are already concessions on the beach and thus there is 4.1 hectares of additional area in this location. As the JOC will relinquish 1.5 hectares elsewhere the application will result in an increase in concession area on the intertidal zone of 2.6 hectares.

This application does not move aquaculture development north of an imaginary boundary agreed with the Principal Ecologist where the intertidal area is important for bird life.

After consideration the Fisheries and Marine Resources Panel agreed to recommend to the Minister that the application be published in the Gazette in draft to allow for comments from the General Public.

The Receiver General has been consulted and any comments will be submitted to the Minister for consideration at the end of the public consultation.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve the publication of the draft concession authorisation.

Written by:	Greg Morel, Fisheries Officer, R & D.

Approved by:	Chris Newton, Director of Environment Department

Attachments: Concession Application

Draft licence

Date 09/06/08

File ref:6.9.31

Ministerial Decision Case Ref:MD-E-2008-0119

L:\Environment Department\15 Ministerial Decisions\02 Economic Development\02 2008\WR MD-E-2008-0 Sea Fisheries(Fisheries)(Jersey) 200_.doc