Krill Ifa 2015
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Office of the Commissioner Government House, Stanley, Falkland Islands. KRILL LICENSING 2015 INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS 1. Background 1.1. This document contains important information for anyone who wishes to apply for a licence to fish for krill in the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Maritime Zone (SGSSI MZ) in 2015. 1.2. The SGSSI MZ is within the area covered by the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), to which the United Kingdom is a contracting party. Accordingly fisheries in the Maritime Zone are managed under the auspices of CCAMLR. It is a condition of every licence that all applicable CCAMLR Conservation Measures (CMs) must be adhered to. The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) requires that certain additional conditions are also complied with, details of which are provided below. 1.3. The main legislation governing the management of the fisheries in the Maritime Zone are the Fisheries (Conservation and Management) Ordinance 2000 as amended (the FCMO) and the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Areas Order, which are available on the GSGSSI website at: http://www.sgisland.gs. 1.4. The South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area (SGSSI MPA) was established in February 2012 and the MPA Order updated in June 2013. All fishing operations must be in accordance with the SGSSI MPA Order (2013) and the associated Management Plan, including any amendments thereto made prior to the start of the fishing season. 1.5. The krill fishing season in the SGSSI MZ will be open from April 1st until October 31st 2015. Licences will only be issued for krill fishing activities in the area of the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Maritime Zone to the north of 60 degrees south. 1.6. In outline, under the FCMO the Director of Fisheries is responsible for issuing licences. The Director is obliged to consult the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in London before issuing any licences and he must act in accordance with any foreign policy advice which is received. 1.7. GSGSSI's principal objectives are to regulate fishing in the Maritime Zone so as to conserve fish stocks and other marine living resources, in line with Article II of CCAMLR, and to maintain safe and sustainable fisheries. As part of these objectives GSGSSI is committed to maintaining, and raising, the standards of management, research and operation in the fisheries. Email: [email protected] Tel: (500) 28214 Facsimile: (500) 22811 KRILL 2015 INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS 2. Quota and fees for the 2015 Season 2.1. CCAMLR has set a catch limit of 279,000 tonnes of krill in CCAMLR Subarea 48.3 (South Georgia waters) and 93,000 tonnes for Subarea 48.4 (South Sandwich Islands). See CCAMLR Conservation Measure 51-07 (2014) for details. 2.2. For the 2015 season the fees to fish for krill in Subarea 48.3 and 48.4 will consist of a licence approval fee of £10,000 and a monthly access fee. The first month of access will be charged at £45,000. Subsequent months of access will be charged at £51,500. Immediately following any full month of access, the Director of Fisheries will consider extensions to access for two-week periods, which will be charged at £26,000. A single licence approval fee will apply to both Subareas. Any access fees will also apply to both Subareas. 2.3. For the 2015 season GSGSSI will continue to trial a Searching for Krill Scheme in which vessels will be entitled to a partial refund of their first month’s access fee if they spend less than 10 days searching for krill and meet the following conditions: (a) the vessel did not deploy any fishing gear during the searching period; (b) the vessel carried an observer appointed under the CCAMLR International Observation Scheme during the searching period; (c) the vessel submits all VMS data to GSGSSI for the duration of participation in the searching scheme; (d) the vessel leaves the Maritime Zone after the searching period and does not return for a minimum of two weeks. Vessels that meet these conditions will, on application, be refunded £25,000 of their initial access fee. 2.4. GSGSSI reserves the right in future licensing rounds, to distribute the amount of catch that can be taken from any specific area within the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Maritime Zone in a more precautionary manner. 3. Application and Licensing Procedures 3.1. Applications should consist of a completed application form (a copy of the relevant form is available from the GSGSSI website), plus all the required supporting documentation. The form must be completed in English and for any supporting documentation that is not in English a translation must be attached. Applicants should include all the information that they wish the Director to consider in the appropriate section of the application form. 3.2. Applications should be submitted by email to the Director of Fisheries ([email protected]) by March 13th 2015. - 2 - KRILL 2015 INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS 3.3. Applicants should indicate for which Subarea (48.3 or 48.4) they are applying and in which months they are likely to fish in the SGSSI MZ. 3.4. Applications should indicate if the vessel intends to carry either a CCAMLR International Observer or a National Observer during their fishing period in the GSGSSI Maritime Zone. 3.5. All information will be treated as commercially confidential, unless it is already in the public domain. 3.6. For a vessel to be considered for the award of a licence, a number of mandatory conditions must first be fulfilled. These are set out in Annex A below. It is the responsibility of applicants to ensure that these conditions are fulfilled. Vessels that do not meet these conditions will not be considered for a licence. 3.7. Applicants should support statements with documentary evidence. The Director will use data from previous seasons to assist in assessing applications. Applicants who have not fished, or who have not fished recently, in the Maritime Zone should provide verifiable evidence of their performance in other fisheries. 3.8. For those vessels assessed as meeting the mandatory requirements in Annex A, the Director of Fisheries will then consult the Secretary of State regarding any foreign policy implications associated with allocating a licence to the vessel. The Director of Fisheries will inform the Secretary of State inter alia how many applicants fulfilled the mandatory requirements in Annex A, to which CCAMLR Member states those applicant vessels are flagged, and how many licences he is minded to offer. 3.9. Ordinarily all communications between the Director of Fisheries and the Secretary of State are confidential. 3.10. The Director of Fisheries reserves the right to exclude a vessel on the following grounds: (a) the vessel is or has been involved in illegal, unregulated, or unreported fishing ("IUU", see Annex C for definition of the terms); (b) the owner, charterer or operator of the vessel is, or includes, at the time of the application (or will be, or will include, when the vessel is in the maritime zone), one of the following: i. a company, individual, or other entity which is or has been involved in IUU fishing; or ii. a company, individual, or other entity, any associate (see Annex D for definition) of which is or has been involved in IUU fishing. In determining these matters, the Director may consider and take into account, inter alia, information concerning IUU activities provided by CCAMLR Contracting Parties or the CCAMLR Commission, including, but not limited to, the list of vessels involved in IUU fishing which is maintained by the Commission. - 3 - KRILL 2015 INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS 3.11. If GSGSSI, or the UK Government, is owed money by a debtor in connection with a matter related to the management of any SGSSI fishery including, but not limited to, quota/access fees or damages, costs, or a fine awarded by a Court or arbitral tribunal in respect of a SGSSI fishery-related case, it is likely that this will preclude the award of a licence to a vessel which is or which will be when in the Maritime Zone owned, chartered or operated whether solely or jointly by the debtor or by any associate thereof. However, before deciding whether to refuse a licence on this ground the Director of Fisheries will give the debtor, and the owner, charterer and operator if different, an opportunity to make representations in support of the award of a licence that they wish the Director to consider. 3.12. Applicants must promptly provide such further information or other assistance as the Director of Fisheries may reasonably require. In the absence of such further information or assistance the Director shall be entitled to disregard the application. 3.13. Successful applicants will be notified by March 27th 2015 and be charged the licence approval fee, which must be paid by April 17th 2015. Once the initial fee is paid vessels will be able to access the fishery (subject to licensing inspections at King Edward Point). If the licence approval fee is not paid by April 17th, the application will be disregarded and the operator required to submit a further application (see para. 3.16). 3.14. Vessels that carry a CCAMLR International Observer (from a different flag-state to that of the vessel and designated in accordance with the CCAMLR System of Scientific Observation) on board will be required to give 72 hours notice of their intention to fish in the SGSSI MZ.