Scallops (Hansard, 3 December 1998)

§ Mr. Morley

Following issue of a consultative paper in June this year and careful consideration of the responses, it has been decided to proceed with the introduction of specific licensing arrangements for over 10 metre vessels fishing for scallops using mechanical dredging gear.

Permission to fish for scallops with mechanical dredging gear will be granted where vessel owners can demonstrate that they currently hold licences with a history of having caught a minimum of 1 tonne of scallops 281W by this method in any calendar year during the period 1 January 1994 to 31 May 1998. The users of mechanical dredging gear will be required to complete a logbook for all fishing trips during which scallops are caught. Where licences are aggregated, the permission to fish for scallops with mechanical dredging gear will only be given if all the donor licences carried that permission.

These arrangements are planned to take effect from 1 April 1999 and will be reviewed after 2 years in the light of experience. The review will take account also of progress towards the development of more precisely targeted conservation measures.

A number of respondents to the consultation exercise proposed that scallop licensing should be introduced for vessels of 10 metres and under. This will be considered as part of broader management arrangements for these vessels. However, I should make it clear that if scallop licensing were to be introduced in this context, the reference period for determining eligibility would also be 1 January 1994 to 31 May 1998.

Fisheries Departments will be writing to all owners of over 10 metre vessels setting out the criteria for qualification for a licence and inviting applications. The letter will also deal with the arrangements for considering applications from those who do not meet the qualifying criteria but who have made a financial commitment to invest in a scallop vessel, gear or licences for aggregation onto a scallop vessel prior to 31 May 1998.