Fishermen whose licences have been monitored over the last two years following Defra’s latent capacity (capping) exercise should now fish to the limits as set out in their current licence until further notice.
In 2015 Defra carried out an exercise to address latent capacity in the under 10m English fishing fleet.
A number of fishermen had their finfish licence capped at 350kgs and/or had their shellfish permit temporarily suspended. This exercise included an appeals process. Some appeals were successful but subject to a monitoring period of 2 two years.
This period for monitoring drew to an end in most cases on 31 December 2017. Defra officials will be seeking to review this policy in 2018.
The MMO previously updated the relevant section of its website with this information in early January 2018.
If you have questions about this contact the Defra Helpline on 0345 933 5577 or email fisheriesreform@defra.gsi.gov.uk.
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