Minimum Age for Jersey Fishing Boat Licence Holders.

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A decision made (20/07/2007) regarding: Minimum Age for Jersey Fishing Boat Licence Holders.

Decision Reference:	MD-E-2007-0131	Decision: Public or Exempt?		Public
Clauses if Decision Exempt: (from code of practice publication)	n/a	Date of Decision Summary:		29 June 2007
Decision Summary Author:	Dave Yettram	Decision Summary Title:		Minimum Age for Jersey Fishing Boat Licence Holders
Type of Report: oral or written?	Written	Person giving oral report:		n/a
Telephone or e-mail meeting?	n/a	Written report title:		Minimum Age for Jersey Fishing Boat Licence Holders
Date of Written Report:	29 June 2007	Written Report Author:		Dave Yettram
Subject: Minimum Age for Jersey Fishing Boat Licence Holders
Decision(s): The Minister agreed the introduction of a new condition requiring applicants for fishing licences to be aged 16 or over.
Reason(s) for decision: To ensure that a fishing boat licence holder is over 16 years of age and can be held legally responsible.
Action Required: Licence Application form to be modified by Department Officers
Signature:			Senator Philip Ozouf Minister for Economic Development
Date of Decision: (date signed, or effective date only for retrospective decisions) 20/07/2007

Minimum Age for Jersey Fishing Boat Licence Holders.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

Minimum Age for Jersey Fishing Boat Licence Holders

(Public)

Purpose of the Report

Currently there is no minimum age required for an individual to be the holder of a fishing boat licence. The licence holder can be held responsible for fisheries offences even though they may not be the skipper of the licensed vessel. It is therefore important that the licence holder is above the age of criminal responsibility and of legal age to work on a fishing boat.

Background

On 5th November 1996 the States Of Jersey passed the SEA FISHERIES (LICENSING OF FISHING BOATS) (JERSEY) REGULATIONS 1996. These regulations were put in place to prohibit fishing in Jersey’s Territorial Sea by unlicensed fishing boats, the only exception being in respect of fishing by a boat used wholly for the purpose of conveying persons wishing to fish for pleasure.

The Committee approved a set of conditions regarding the issue of a fishing boat licence which set out certain criteria which must be met to qualify for a licence. To reduce the work load of the committee, delegated powers were given to the Chief Officer and Sea Fisheries Advisor (now the Head of Fisheries and Marine Resources) to approve any application which met with all of the Committees’ conditions. These conditions did not however stipulate a minimum age for licence holders who must also be the registered owners of the vessel.

Discussion

It has come to light that fishermen have on occasions registered and licensed their fishing boats in the names of their young children, often in an attempt to protect their assets from action by the Viscount’s Officers. This practice also creates a problem concerning prosecuting a vessel owner in strict liability cases, children under the age of 10 are below the age of criminal responsibility. This is now particularly relevant with the introduction of mandatory under 10m log books where the vessel owner(s)/licence holder(s) are directly responsible for the submission of quarterly log book returns. A minimum age of 16 would be an appropriate minimum age to hold a fishing licence as this would be consistent with the Education (Jersey) Law 1999 which prohibits the employment of young people below the statutory school leaving age of 16 and also the Shipping (Employment of Young People) (Jersey) Order 2007 which prohibits, albeit with a few very strict exemptions, the employment of young people below the age of 16 on vessels. As there are currently no licence holders under the age of 16 it would be an appropriate time to introduce a condition stipulating that licence holders are above the age of 16. Applications for fishing vessel licences already ask for the date of birth of the applicant and it would therefore be possible to enforce this minimum age condition if it is approved.

An individual cannot hold a fishing vessel licence unless the vessel to which the licence applies is registered as a fishing vessel and the applicant is also the registered owner of it. The Registrar has the right to refuse registration if he considers it inappropriate and the owner being under the age of 16 could be considered inappropriate, however unfortunately the application procedure by the Registrar does not involve ascertaining the age of the applicant. The proposed minimum age for licence holders would therefore assist the Registrar who for similar reasons does not want individuals under the age of criminal responsibility to be able to register vessels as commercial fishing boats. Setting the age limit at 16 rather than 18 would enable school leavers to hold fishing licences.

Recommendation

To introduce a new condition requiring applicants for fishing licences to be aged 16 or over.

Written by:	Dave Yettram

Approved by:	Chris Newton, Director of Environment

6.1.8

Ministerial Decision ref: MD-E-2007-0131

29.06.07