Fishing vessels - economic link: business and regulatory impact assessment

15. Enforcement, sanctions and monitoring

The Scottish Government will monitor the impact of the amended licence condition as part of its annual administration of the economic link licence condition.

Marine Scotland will utilise established corporate systems (Compass and IFish) to monitor vessel performance against licence conditions where vessels have recorded landings of more than 10 tonnes of the 8 key species.

Breaches of licence conditions will be investigated by Marine Scotland Compliance (MSC). Where MSC obtains evidence of contravention of the law by a holder of a Commercial sea fisheries licence it may report the case to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) for consideration of prosecution, or alternative appropriate action as it sees fit.