Electrofishing for razor clams trial: update - February 2021 to January 2022

6. Marine Directorate Compliance: Inspections and Monitoring

MD Compliance continued to employ a risk-based approach to the inspection of vessels participating in the trial and deployed land and sea based resources to monitor these vessels. During most of the Year 4 of the trial, compliance officers were working within COVID-19 restrictions which reduced their operational capability. Despite the restrictions in place, 105 inspections were carried out both by inspectors on land and at sea where compliance was found to be good. Twenty-six weight checks were undertaken at landing ports with no infringements found.

As per the terms and conditions of the trial, the owner of each participating vessel is entirely responsible for the purchase, installation and maintenance costs of all fishing apparatus, generating gear, and monitoring equipment specified by MD as necessary for participation. This includes a bespoke Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) device which proves a highly valuable tool for both scientific data collection purposes and compliance management. All MD coastal offices and the Marine Protection Vessel fleet have access to live positional data of the vessels to aid inspections (subject to the 3G coverage in a vessel's area of operation).

The REM data is received at MD's Fully Documented Fishery Unit (FDF), where it is analysed and verified for compliance. During Year 4 there were 1982 voyages analysed. Compliance with the requirements of the trial's terms and conditions was high. Post landing checks by the FDF unit identified 50 minor breaches of terms and conditions and these were addressed by verbal rebriefs, emails and advisory letters. These breaches were mostly clusters of issues with REM equipment associated with a small number of vessels. However, one warning letter was issued to a vessel for REM non-compliance.