Fishing vessel weekly licence variations 21 February 2025

There are no new variations for this week.

Remote Electronic Monitoring

Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) is now mandatory for any vessel dredging for scallops in Scottish waters, and for Scottish scallop dredge vessels wherever they are fishing.  Guidance is available at https://www.gov.scot/policies/sea-fisheries/remote-electronic-monitoring/

The legislation - The Sea Fisheries (Remote Electronic Monitoring and Regulation of Scallop Fishing) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 – also requires REM on relevant pelagic vessels from 7 March 2026.  In order to prepare for the new rules coming into force, remote inspections and system test trips can be carried out from 7 September 2025.  Guidance on the pelagic vessel requirements will be published in due course.

Fishing vessel quota limits tables: 2025 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) - showing the quota limits applicable to 10m and under and over 10m non-sector vessels.

Fisheries closures table: 2025 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) showing all fisheries closures, by group, for Scottish fishing licences.

Lerwick (Shetland) administered AU (10m and under) vessels

From 1 May 2023, all AU licensed vessels must hail into and out of port to either of the following contacts:

By text is 07771396483. No calls will be answered on the number.

By email: inshoreLK@gov.scot

The following details must be included in your message

• on departure the vessel name, PLN, name of master, port of departure and date/time of departure
• on return the vessel name, PLN, name of master, port of return and date/time of return

For Awareness:

Research – IUU Regulatory change

The Marine Management Organisation are running a research project with Fishermen across the UK, and are looking for your input.

Taking part in the research

Please complete this form to select your availability to take part between Tuesday 18th -  Tuesday 25th February 2025.

https://forms.office.com/e/ZEazsRD7yY

After all the submissions have been received, the MMO will contact relevant respondents to confirm a time slot for the session.

For more information about the research sessions, please email:
 
Tom Harding (Senior User Researcher) - tom.harding@defra.gov.uk

About the research

You may be aware the EU has recently published changes to its Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing regulation. As part of this, it introduces revisions to IUU documents (catch certificates and processing & non-manipulation) from third countries to support traceability of fish produce entering the EU.  

These changes will be mandatory for fish & fishery products traded from all third countries into the EU from January 2026 and will mean that additional information (for example, gear type) will need to be included on the export documents.

To help us better understand what these potential changes might mean for fisherman and exporters, and how we can best support the fishing industry, the Marine Management Organisation are talking to fishers who currently supply exporters to the EU. 

What to expect

Our researcher will be holding a one-to-one sessions (up to 1hr) on Microsoft Teams with a range of people in February 2025.

In the sessions we will ask you about your role in the fishing industry, how you currently capture and share information about your catch with buyers, and discuss the implications of any potential changes in the future.

We may ask you questions around several topics, including:

1) Your background and role in the fishing industry.

2) How and where you sell your fish. 

3) How you typically collect and use information about your catch. 

4) How you share this information when selling your produce. 

5) What challenges or frustrations might you face when collecting and sharing information that may be required by exporters the upcoming regulatory changes.

Taking part in the research

Please complete this form to select your availability to take part between Tuesday 18th -  Tuesday 25th February 2025.

After we have received all the submissions, we will contact relevant respondents to confirm a time slot for the session.

For more information about the research sessions, please contact: 

Tom Harding (Senior User Researcher) - tom.harding@defra.gov.uk