Marine and fisheries monitoring: EIR release

Information requested

1. When did you check foreigners landing into our ports?
2. When did you weigh their landings?
3. When did you last log down fish species?
4. When did you log down fish sizes?
5. When did you  check vessels at sea?
6. When did you check fishing licenses?
7. When did you check crew lists?
8. When did you check garbage logs?
9. When did you check used oil logs?
10. When did you measure gill net mesh sizes?
11. When did you measure longline hook sizes?
12. When was the last check if vessels had all the it gear on-board?
13. When did you last accurately do your job?

Response

1. The last foreign vessel to have been checked in our ports was on 26th August 2021. 

2. The last landing to be weighed was on 26th August 2021.

As per guidance on GOV.UK , Section 3

“ All fish must be weighed before it is sold for the first time. Depending on where the fish is being sold you can choose to weigh the fish prior to or after transport.”

If the fish are being transported anywhere in the EU except for France and Belgium or out with the EU then they must be weighed at landing.

To answer questions 3 and 4 together, every landing has to submit a logbook, landing declaration and sales note, vessels over 12 meters are required to report their daily fishing activity electronically and vessels under 12m report their catches on paper . The sales note is the third party check on the accuracy of the logbook and landing declaration. This information is fed directly to our systems for every landing where comparison verification checks are carried out.

As an additional assurance of the landing data, when our officers monitor a vessel or the catch is counted at landing, an additional level of assurance on the accuracy of the fishing vessel return is achieved. Through these measures, we are able to ensure landing data is as accurate as possible.

5.The last boarding at sea was on 31st August 2021.

Marine Scotland assets are deployed on the basis of a risk based tasking. This allows for continuous routine inspection at sea. Routine inspection involves inspection of fishing gear, an inspection of catch and verification of the vessel's documentation in order to determine compliance at sea.

6. All licence details are checked before the licence is issued. Any changes to the licence should be reported to local fishery officer as soon as the licence holder becomes aware of the changes as per the conditions of the licence.

Details of all licenced vessels are contained within our Monitoring, Control and Surveillance System and fishing vessels present in Scottish waters are verified against this system to ensure compliance. All EU vessels fishing in Scottish Waters are required to be licenced and details of these licences can be found here.

United Kingdom Single Issuing Authority (UKSIA) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

7, 8 and 9.  This will fall under the remit of Maritime and Coastguard Agency – contact details can be found here. 

For further information Marine Scotland recently produced a factsheet on garbage recently and can be found here.

10. There are currently only 5 UK vessels within the UK fleet that use gill nets along with number of Spanish, French and German vessels. The last UK gill net check was on 15th May 2019 and the last foreign gill net check was on 12th May 2019. 

11. Currently there are no regulations on hook sizes for longlines.

12. All vessels over 12m long are legally obligated to have a functioning VMS system installed on their vessel for operating in UK waters as per Article 9 of Council Regulation 1224/2009 as retained. Details on what should be installed and the Master of Vessels responsibility can be found within Article 18 and 20 of Council Regulation 404/2011

Article 15 of Council Regulation 1224/2009 lists the requirements for reporting logbook data electronically which is reported to the Member State and is forwarded to us however any other electronic device on board fishing vessels are not compulsory for fishing regulations.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency, or the equivalent for non UK flag vessels also require vessels to have electronic kit such as radio, radar and other devices depending on size. For more details on this you can contact the Maritime and Coastguard Agency here.

13. I understand your frustrations with this matter. Marine Scotland are here to monitor compliance to legislation for fishing in UK waters and we work on a risk based approach to ensure we can operate as efficiently and as effectively as possible.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.