If your vessel's engine exceeds its declared power
Updated 12 March 2020
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You must take steps to resolve the situation within 28 calendar days of receiving the written notification. You should maintain contact with your Marine Management Organisation (MMO) administration office to keep MMO informed of what you are doing.
There are 5 courses of action available to you. MMO officers can provide limited advice on the courses of action listed below but the final decision as to which option you choose is for the owner.
1.De-rate your engine
You could de-rate your vessel’s engine power to match the declared engine power on the Certificate of Registry and Fishing Licence. A re-test will be required to confirm that the engine has been de-rated to match the declared engine power.
Please note if you wish to de-rate your engine read Marine Guidance Note MGN 435 (F), sections 3 and 4.
2.Get more engine power units
If you don’t want to de-rate the engine, then you may wish to aggregate (combine) kilowatt (KW) days onto your licence to equal or exceed that measured during the test. This can be done using the application form AFL19.
3.Combine de-rating and more engine power units
You can use both aggregating and de-rating. A re-test may be required to ensure you have acquired appropriate units for the aggregation.
4.Create a licence entitlement and cease fishing
If you decide that you don’t wish to do any of the above the final option would be to contact your local MMO administration office to raise an entitlement against the licence.
4.1 If you do nothing
After 28 calendar days, if nothing has been done and MMO has received no indication of any corrective actions then the licence will be considered invalid. Any further fishing after this date will be considered to be without the authorisation of a fishing licence and may result in enforcement action.
4.2 Power limitation through regulation
When you have been informed of the vessels’ engine power, if this limits where you would be able to fish, where a regulation or byelaw limits access to a vessel dependent on its engine power, you should no longer fish in that area with immediate effect.
Examples of technical measures include the 221KW beam trawl restrictions and the 100KW limits in the South West Devon Inshore Fishing Grounds. Local inshore fisheries and conservation authorities will be informed of any engine power test results so that they can consider if there are any breaches of their byelaws.