Shipping (Fishing Vessels Safety Codes of Practice) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

Information about the publication of Ministerial Decisions

A formal published “Ministerial Decision” is required as a record of the decision of a Minister (or an Assistant Minister where they have delegated authority) as they exercise their responsibilities and powers.

Ministers are elected by the States Assembly and have legal responsibilities and powers as “corporation sole” under the States of Jersey Law 2005 by virtue of their office and in their areas of responsibility, including entering into agreements, and under any legislation conferring on them powers.

An accurate record of “Ministerial Decisions” is vital to effective governance, including:

demonstrating that good governance, and clear lines of accountability and authority, are in place around decisions-making – including the reasons and basis on which a decision is made, and the action required to implement a decision
providing a record of decisions and actions that will be available for examination by States Members, and Panels and Committees of the States Assembly; the public, organisations, and the media; and as a historical record and point of reference for the conduct of public affairs

Ministers are individually accountable to the States Assembly, including for the actions of the departments and agencies which discharge their responsibilities.

The Freedom of Information Law (Jersey) Law 2011 is used as a guide when determining what information is be published. While there is a presumption toward publication to support of transparency and accountability, detailed information may not be published if, for example, it would constitute a breach of data protection, or disclosure would prejudice commercial interest.

A decision made 13 February 2015:

Decision Reference: MD-E-2015-0014
Decision Summary Title :	Fishing Vessel Safety Provisions		Date of Decision Summary:	9 February 2015
Decision Summary Author:	Registrar of Shipping		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 :	Fishing vessels safety codes of practice		Date of Written Report:	6 January 2015
Written Report Author:	Registrar of Shipping		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Lodging for debate - Shipping Regulations concerning fishing vessels safety codes of practice
Decision(s): The Minister decided to lodge ‘au Greffe’ the draft Shipping (Fishing Vessels Safety Codes of Practice) (Jersey) Regulations 201-
Reason(s) for Decision: The draft Regulations and associated Codes of Safety are now ready to proceed. The current Order does not provide for the adoption of Codes of Safety and is considerably out of date. The Regulations will largely replace the Order, which will be amended prior to the Regulations coming into force.
Resource Implications: There are no new financial, property, ICT or human resources issues arising.
Action required: The Greffier of the States is asked to note this decision and to make the necessary arrangements for the draft Regulations to be lodged for debate in due course.
Signature: Senator L J Farnham		Position: Minister for Economic Development
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Shipping (Fishing Vessels Safety Codes of Practice) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

SHIPPING (FISHING VESSELS Safety CodeS OF PRACTICE) (JERSEY) REGULATIONS 201-

Report

Background

The current Shipping (Fishing Vessels Safety Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2004 replaced and slightly updated an old regime of triennial Regulations.

It is now ten years out of date. Fishing boat accidents, sometimes leading to the tragic loss of life, continue to occur and the need for good safety awareness, modern equipment, good training and drills remains paramount in what is traditionally a dangerous industry. In the meantime, design, training and safety equipment standards have changed and the United Kingdom have introduced and continue to evolve modern Codes of Practice underpinned by law.

Fishing vessels registered here in Jersey are British fishing boats and subject to inspection by the UK or other EU countries when in the relevant waters.

For these reasons, a new set of Regulations have been drafted to replace the Order and to authorise the UK’s or other codes to be amended for introduction here.

The Regulations

The Regulations follow the pattern already established with other shipping safety legislation. For charter yachts and work boats, codes are published under the authority of the Shipping (Safety Code – Yachts and Small Ships) (Jersey) Regulations 2013. Their status is not dissimilar to the Approved Codes of Practice under the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989.

The set of just six Regulations replace an Order that runs to over 170 pages and achieve this by authorising the publication of technical Codes. Standard provisions are made for exemptions and equivalents as well as for effective enforcement. The detail is fully covered in the accompanying Explanatory Note.

The Codes

The draft Codes are published together with these Regulations for the information of Members but they do not form part of the Regulations themselves. When the Regulations come into force, the Codes will be available on-line at www.gov.je/shipsregistry . A summary of key points is as follows:

The Codes are amended versions of the current UK standards corrected to comply with Jersey legislation and with some additional improvements. These ensure all vessels will continue to get a certificate and not simply a note of inspection. For the smaller vessels, together with the current check of safety equipment, there will also be a basic assessment to ensure the vessel is not unsafe. Such an assessment is currently integral to the regime for vessels over 15m in length but there is not a clear provision for this, for smaller vessels.

Inspections will continue to be carried out by Jersey Harbours and the Shipping Register for vessels under 12m in length whilst the larger ones will continue to be the delegated responsibility of the Certifying Authority MECAL Ltd.

For the larger boats, the now-established annual retainer will continue to cover inspections in the years between the renewal and interim inspections. The carrying out of safety drills such as a man-overboard or fire practice is an area that can be checked by these inspections. This was an aspect the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) were especially keen to see put in place.

The use of an annual self-certification check-list of safety equipment is part of both Codes and will be new to the Island.

Survey and certification is aligned with re-registration every five years instead of the present 4-year survey regime for vessels over 12m in length.

The small fishing vessel code has specific stability requirements for vessels of 12 to 15m in length. This will not affect the local fleet as there no vessels in this range of lengths at the moment.

The codes will not come into force until three months after the Regulations are passed so as to ensure effective publication and awareness.

Consultation

Consultation has taken place with the Jersey Inshore Fishermen’s Association, the Jersey Fishermen’s Association, Jersey Harbours and technical consultants. Letters were also sent to individual owners of the larger vessels. The process goes back some four years. Changes have been discussed at a number of meetings with the draft Regulations and Codes being distributed for comment to the Associations in July 2012 and again in July 2014. Further minor changes to the Codes were issued in December 2014.

The Jersey Fishermen’s Association expressed concerns about the cost of compliance and is keen to see common sense and discretion retained to allow flexibility. The Association also sought time to consider the legislation. In response to those concerns it will be seen that consultation has been over a long period of time and that there are no new costs. In fact, for the larger vessels the period between full inspections becomes five-yearly instead of every four years, so reducing the cost a little. Regarding flexibility, the Codes can be modified as a result of consultation and the Regulations grant the power to the Minister to exempt a fishing vessel from specific requirements. They also allow the Minister to recognise an alternative certificate to a local Jersey one.

Fundamentally, there is little that has been a cause for concern, the impact on individuals will be small and the industry is supportive of maintaining safety standards.

Legal Advice

The Attorney-General has given his sanction to the penalty provisions. These have been re-drafted to fit in with the Regulations but they have not otherwise changed.

Conclusions

These Regulations will allow a better, more modern and safer regime to be put in place. They replace a large swathe of old and cumbersome legislation and do not have any financial, manpower, or other resource impacts for the States or for the fishermen involved.

09 February 2015