Permits to fish

When purchasing a fishing vessel, it is important to consider whether the vessel is a development fund boat. In 1994 a law was passed on the Fisheries Development Fund. The law was intended to decommission fishing vessels in return for funding from the fund. The conditions for the grant in question were that the ship was:

• taken from the register of ships.

• its right to renewal would not be exercised.

• all fishing permits taken from the ship.

The Supreme Court has in case no. 3/2001 confirmed the practice that it is not permitted to grant a permit to vessel for commercial fishing if the Development Fund has paid a grant due to obsolescence. You can see if a boat is a development fund boat by:

• search the Directorate of Fisheries website for the ship and view the ship's history. If the vessel's operating class has ever been development fund, then the vessel has been deprecated from the fisheries management system.

Ships that have once been development fund boats may be used for:

• cruises.

• recreational fishing without harvest rights.

The Fisheries Development Fund is no longer in operation and therefore grants for scrapping of boats are no longer available.