Sea Fisheries (Log Books, Transhipment and Landing Declarations) (Jersey) Regulations 201- & Sea Fisheries (Vessel Monitoring Systems) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

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A decision made 16 May 2015:

Decision Reference: MD-E-2014-0040
Decision Summary Title :	Approval for lodging of draft Sea Fisheries Regulations			Date of Decision Summary:	13 May 2014
Decision Summary Author:	Assistant Director Marine Resources			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 lodging of draft Sea Fisheries Regulations to implement EU Fisheries Control Regulations.			Date of Written Report:	13 May 2014
Written Report Author:	Assistant Director Marine Resources			Written Report : Public or Exempt? (If Exempt State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public

Subject: Approval for lodging of draft Sea Fisheries (Log Books, Transhipment and Landing Declarations) (Jersey) Regulations 201- and draft Sea Fisheries (Vessel Monitoring Systems) (Jersey) Regulations 201-.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the draft Sea Fisheries (Log Books, Transhipment and Landing Declarations) (Jersey) Regulations 201- and draft Sea Fisheries (Vessel Monitoring Systems) (Jersey) Regulations 201- and requested that they be lodged “au Greffe”.
Reason(s) for decision: Under the terms of the Jersey/UK Fisheries Management Agreement the Island has agreed to introduce relevant European Regulations in respect of fishing activity. These two drafts replace existing regulations with revised editions to ensure the most current and important control measures relating to satellite monitoring and logbooks can be enforced on all vessels operating in the Jersey territorial sea.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower resource implications.
Action required: The Greffier of the States to be requested to arrange for the draft Sea Fisheries (Log Books, Transhipment and Landing Declarations) (Jersey) Regulations 201- and draft Sea Fisheries (Vessel Monitoring Systems) (Jersey) Regulations 201- to be lodged “au Greffe” for debate.
Signature: Senator Alan Maclean		Position: Minister for Economic Development
Date Signed:			Date of Decision:

Sea Fisheries (Log Books, Transhipment and Landing Declarations) (Jersey) Regulations 201- & Sea Fisheries (Vessel Monitoring Systems) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Approval for Lodging of Sea Fisheries Regulations to implement EU Fisheries Control Regulations

Purpose of the Report

For the Minister to approve the lodging for debate of the draft Sea Fisheries (Log Books, Transhipment and Landing Declarations) (Jersey) Regulations 201- and draft Sea Fisheries (Vessel Monitoring Systems) (Jersey) Regulations 201-.

Background

In August 1996 the Island signed a Fisheries Management Agreement (FMA) with the UK as a precursor to the extension of the Island’s territorial sea from 3 to 12 miles or median line. Under the terms of the FMA the Island has agreed to introduce relevant EU fisheries legislation for fishing activity in the Island’s territorial sea.

In order to effectively manage fisheries, the EU has a set of “Control” regulations which relate to the monitoring of fishing activity. On 20 November 2009 the EU introduced a replacement set of Control Regulations and subsequent to that has introduced further detailed legislation to assist with their implementation. The two drafts seek to replace the existing Jersey legislation (giving effect to an earlier version of the EU Control regulations) with legislation consistent with the new control regulations.

On 8 April 2011, Senator Maclean approved the amendment of local fisheries regulations to allow implementation of the 2009 EU control measures (MD-E-2011-0049). In view of the complexity of the EU regulations there has been a significant dialogue between the drafting officers and officers of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to ensure that the regulations would be consistent, but not unduly onerous on local fishermen fishing exclusively in the Jersey area. On 4 June 2013 Senator Maclean approved that the final drafts resulting from this dialogue be sent to the UK for Secretary of State approval (such approval being required under the terms of the UK/Jersey Fisheries Management Agreement) and the Sea Fisheries (Jersey) Law 1994). On 13 May 2014 the Ministry of Justice confirmed by letter that such approval had been obtained.

Details

The full EU Control Regulations already apply throughout neighbouring French waters and in waters around Guernsey and so any Jersey, French or other vessels operating in those areas have to be fully compliant. Regardless of the requirements to introduce EU legislation arising from the FMA obligation, there are real benefits in introducing the measures contained in these regulations for all vessels in local waters. Most notably, it means that such vessels have to be fitted with various tracking devices, foreign vessels have to give notification if landing into a Jersey port and all vessels over ten metres in length need to maintain catch and fishing effort logbooks, which our Fishery Officers can have access to.

Sea Fisheries (Log Books, Transhipment and Landing Declarations) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

This regulation introduces few changes to that which it replaces, other than the need for vessels over 12 metres in length to operate an electronic log book, rather than the paper logbook required by the previous regulations. Such equipment is however expensive to purchase and maintain and the draft therefore has an exemption that allows for vessels in the 12 to 15 metre category who only fish in local waters, to continue using paper logbooks. The few vessels in the Jersey fleet that are greater than 15 metres in length are already fitted with the equipment, as they fish and travel outside of our territorial sea.

Sea Fisheries (Vessel Monitoring Systems) (Jersey) Regulations 201-.

This regulation again introduces few changes, however whereas in the previous regulation only vessels exceeding 15 metres in length needed to be fitted with satellite monitoring equipment, that size has now been reduced to 12 metres. Again an exemption has been made for vessels in the 12 – 15 metre category that only operate within the Island’s territorial sea.

New requirements are introduced relating to a requirement that vessels over 15 metres in length be fitted with an operating automatic identification system (AIS).

As has been identified above, with the exception of the introduction of AIS (which would only apply to two vessels in the local fleet), none of the measures in the new regulations have a significant impact on local vessels.

There are no manpower or financial resource issues associated with enforcing and administering the new measures. Fishery Officers already have working arrangements in place with the UK Marine Management Organisation (who manage satellite monitoring and electronic logbooks for UK vessels) to access data and such data is routinely monitored in respect of local waters. The provision of AIS data and VMS data for an increased number of visiting vessels allows officers to conduct more detailed monitoring from onshore than was previously possible.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve that the draft Sea Fisheries (Log Books, Transhipment and Landing Declarations) (Jersey) Regulations 201- and draft Sea Fisheries (Vessel Monitoring Systems) (Jersey) Regulations 201- are lodged “au Greffe” and to request that the Greffier of the States takes the necessary action for their lodging.

Written by:	Assistant Director Marine Resources

Approved by:	Director Environmental Management and Rural Economy

Ministerial Decision Case Ref: MD-E-2014-0040