Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats) (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

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A decision made 9 August 2013:

Decision Reference: MD-E-2013-0076
Decision Summary Title :	Approval for Lodging of Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats)(Amendment No 6)(Jersey) Regulations 201-)			Date of Decision Summary:	21/06/13
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 Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats)(Amendment No 6)(Jersey Regulations 201-)			Date of Written Report:	21/06/13
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 an amendment to the Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats)(Jersey) Regulations, which amendment facilitates the publication on a Website of variations to fishing vessel licence conditions.
Decision(s): The Minister approved that the Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats)(Amendment No 6)(Jersey) Regulations 201-) be lodged for debate.
Reason(s) for decision: To improve the efficiency of fisheries management and enhance customer experience. .
Resource Implications: There will be a reduction in the amount of work needed to publish licence conditions and a small saving in postage costs.
Action required: The States Greffe to arrange for the draft legislation to be lodged and tabled for debate.
Signature: Senator Alan J Maclean		Position: Minister for Economic Development
Date Signed:			Date of Decision:

Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats) (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Regulations 201-

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Purpose of the Report

For the Minister to approve the lodging for debate of the draft Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats)(Amendment No 6)(Jersey) Regulations 201-.

Background

The Minister manages commercial fishing effort by British registered fishing vessels in the territorial sea by the issue of licences, in accordance with the authority given him by the Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats) (Jersey) Regulations 2003. Fishing vessel licences also contain conditions prescribed by the Minister, as empowered by Article 12 of the Sea Fisheries (Jersey) Law 1994 and it is these conditions that permit the detailed management of commercial fishing, most notably by way of quotas for wet fish species.

There are some 155 vessels licensed by the Minister and licence conditions, particularly those concerning fish quotas are varied regularly, sometimes several times per month. At present, the process depends on mailing licence holders the relevant updated licence conditions, potentially for every change, this is time consuming and costly and when often the variations only apply to a handful of fishermen.

The Jersey licensing system is of necessity based on that of the United Kingdom, where the process of issuing licence variations has changed significantly in recent years. Licence variations are published on a Website, rather than by hard copy and this system has proved both cost effective and efficient. In order for the Minister to adopt a similar process, it is necessary to make this minor amendment to the Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats) (Jersey) Regulations 2003.

On 27 September 2012, the Minister approved that law drafting work should commence on an amendment to the Regulations to allow for the publication on a Website of variations to licenses. Drafting is now complete and the draft amendment is ready for lodging.

Details

Regulation 10(3) of the Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats) (Jersey) Regulations 2003 already makes provision for the Minister to give effect to licence variations of all types by publishing a notice in the Jersey Gazette, the new conditions becoming effective 48 hours after publication.

The Gazette method has not been used on a regular basis because it is not always readily available to fishermen and would need almost daily checking by them. This amendment allows notices to be published on a Website, with effect being delayed until 24 hours after such publication (in the UK, effect is immediate). In other jurisdictions it is a licence condition that licence holders are responsible for checking the Website for any changes to their licence conditions or to quota limitations and similar licence conditions would be imposed locally. This provides a clear and transparent method for the regular publication of licence conditions, without being subject to the vagaries of the postal system. In the UK, the very small number of fishermen that do not have private access to the internet are still able to view variations by going to the local library or fisheries office.

A survey of the local industry has indicated that 2/3 of local commercial fishermen would willingly accept this system; many of them find the regular volume of paperwork that comes through their door quite difficult to manage and would welcome a simpler system.

If the draft Regulation is implemented, then licences will be amended to reflect the need to check a specific Website for Variations. Major changes to licenses will still be sent out in hard copy and the new method will be used primarily for the control of those species subject to a quota. Jersey is currently investigating the possibility of managing allocated quota at a local level (currently quota is set by the UK) and this amendment would equally allow for the effective management of any such changed process. For those licensed fishermen not having access to the Internet, the same variations will be published on the external notice board at La Collette Fisheries Office.

Advantage has been taken of the opportunity to amend the existing Regulations to correct a minor discrepancy relating to the number of different licence types. The draft sets out to avoid any further such discrepancies occurring, as it permits the Minister to nominate new classes of licences as necessary to manage the fishery. Such classes are simply for administrative purposes and do not of themselves place any further restrictions on licensed fishermen.

Unlike other Fisheries Regulations, Regulations relating to the administration of licensing do not require concurrence from the relevant UK Secretary of State.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to request the Greffier of the States to arrange for the draft Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats)(Amendment No 6)(Jersey) Regulations 201-. To be lodged for debate.

Written by:	Assistant Director Marine Resources

Approved by:	Director Environmental Management and Rural Economy

Ministerial Decision Case Ref: MD-E-2013-0076