Informal public consultation on introducing electronic notification of variations to fishing licences
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Original consultation
Consultation description
Summary
This informal consultation (England only) sets out policy proposals for introducing a system of electronic notification of variations to fishing licences in England which will replace the current system of paper variations.
EU legislation requires that all commercial fishing vessels must have a valid fishing licence and authorisation. In England, fishing licences and their variations are currently issued in paper format and must be produced on request to Enforcement Officers during inspection. This is a costly, resource intensive and time consuming process for the Marine Management Organisation and fishermen.
The intention is to amend The Sea Fishing (Licences and Notices) Regulations 1994 No. 2813 to allow for the introduction of an electronic system of notifying licence variations. We aim for this to take effect on 6 April 2012. The new system will be implemented and administered by the Marine Management Organisation once the Licence Order has been amended.
Licence variations will be published on the MMO website. Licence holders, or their nominees, will be notified in advance via email or sms text message alerts of any changes to to their licence and can then view the variation on the MMO website. The front two pages of the licence will still be issued as a paper document, as is current practice, and must be available for on board inspection.