This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Changes to fishing vessel licensing
21/11/2002
Changes to fishing vessel licensing arrangements were
announced today, following publication of a report by a
joint UK industry and Fisheries Departments' working
group.
Environment and Rural Development Minister Ross Finnie
said:
"I welcome this report, which has been produced by the
fisheries departments working alongside the industry to
agree changes to our licensing arrangements in the UK and
agree the report's recommendations.
"We also propose to respond to industry requests for
more flexibility in the licensing of pelagic freezers and
vessels with purse seine licences and to cover on-board
processing: views from industry on that will be
welcome."
The report proposes that the present system of capacity
penalties based on vessel capacity units (VCUs) should be
replaced by one based on tonnage and engine power. A final
decision on the timing and detail of this change will be
made following the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) review,
with a target implementation date of mid-2004.
Further recommendations include the introduction of a
capacity penalty (10%) for single licence transfers
involving eight to ten metre vessels, from 1 May 2004.
Permission to aggregate certain Category C licences with
Category B licences without the loss of right to fish for
Category B stocks, and to transfer licences between vessels
of ten metres or under with outboard and inboard engines,
comes into immediate effect.
The Fisheries Departments are also considering the
possibility of greater flexibility in licensing
arrangements in future, for pelagic freezer trawlers and
vessels holding purse seine licences and the development of
on-board, value-adding processing facilities.
Views from industry on this, which reflect current CFP
Review proposals to allow Member States greater flexibility
to manage the composition of their fleets, are invited.
UK Fisheries Ministers announced on March 16, 2001
that a joint UK Industry/Fisheries Departments Working
Group was being set up to consider changes to the
arrangements for the application of capacity penalties to
fishing vessel licence transfers with a view to these
taking effect from 1 April 2003.
Membership of the Group comprised officials from the
Fisheries Departments in the UK and representatives of the
main fishing industry organisations.
On October 29, 2001, Fisheries Departments announced
that the date for changes to the capacity penalty regime
would be deferred to allow the Working Group more time to
consider their content and nature.