Permit within the net fishery area - Kelp

A permit to harvest marine algae within the net fishery area is tied to a vessel or a a harvesting barge.

Conditions

• The vessel must have a permit for commercial fishing.

• The barge must have a valid certificate of seaworthiness.

• An agreement and consent from the resident or landowner, in accordance with Article 7(c) of the Land Act, must be provided.

• The applicant must prepare a harvesting plan for marine algae for a minimum of five years and have obtained an opinion on the plan from the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute and the Icelandic Institute of Natural History.

Permit validity

The permit is valid for up to 5 years and is indivisible and non-transferable.

Landing of marine algae and registration of products

• All marine algae must be weighed on a certified harbour scale.

• A catch logbook must be submitted for each fishing trip before the vessel or barge docks.

• The provisions of regulation on weighing and registration of marine catch apply to the weighing and registration of marine algae.

• Registration of catch from marine algae harvesting must be carried out in accordance with the regulation on the digital registration and submission of catch information.

Fisheries resource rent

Harvesting is exempt from a fishing fee, except for oarweed and cuvie.

Application

Applications should be sent to the email address fiskistofa@fiskistofa.is.

The application must include:

• the applicant's name and national ID number

• Contact person's information:

  • name

  • national ID number

  • telephone number

  • email address

Application supporting documents

The following documents must accompany the application:

• The opinions must accompany the plan.

The harvesting plan must state the following:

• which vessel or harvesting barge will be used for harvesting,

• how much will be harvested,

• where the harvesting will take place and, where applicable, which areas will be left to rest to promote regrowth,

• comments from the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute and the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, an analysis of them and how they have been addressed.

The plan must be based on an assessment of biomass and likely accessibility.

An attempt must also be made to account for the environmental impact of the harvesting, taking into account the equipment and methods that will be used for harvesting.

The permit costs 22.000 ISK and is collected via a payment slip in the applicants online bank.