Get a fishing vessel licence: over 10 metres
How to apply for a commercial fishing licence for vessels over 10 metres
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Overview
Fishing anywhere by a British fishing boat is prohibited unless authorised by a licence, unless you’re exempt. If you fish without a licence or don’t comply with your licence conditions, you may be prosecuted. All owners are jointly liable for any offences committed by the vessel.
To protect fish stocks no new licences are created and there are a limited number of licences in circulation. The only way you can get a licence is by transferring an existing one to your vessel. You need a licence entitlement to do this.
Exemptions
If any of the following points are true, you don’t need a licence. If your vessel is only used:
- to fish for salmon or migratory trout – you do need a rod licence
- within the 12 nautical mile limits around Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man – you may need a licence from the suitable authority
- to fish for pleasure
Register your vessel
You must register your vessel on the UK Ship Registry to get a fishing vessel licence, unless your vessel is registered in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
For more information contact the:
Get a licence entitlement
You can get an entitlement by obtaining:
- the entitlement from a vessel that has sunk, been scrapped or is no longer being used for fishing
- a licence currently on a vessel
You need to make sure the entitlement(s) is:
- the correct licence category for your fishing requirements. See licences and permits
- suitable for a vessel over 10 metres
- suitable for any shellfish, scallop, and beam trawl area 4 or 7 requirements (if applicable). See licences and permits
- the correct tonnage of your vessel and
- the correct engine power (kilowattage) of your vessel
If required, you can aggregate two or more entitlements to cover your vessel. You can also split an entitlement via an ‘Application to Disaggregate a Fishing Vessel Licence Entitlement (AFL19) form Commercial fishing vessel licence application forms if you have surplus KW or tonnage.
Aggregation and disaggregation rules:
Only licences of the same type and category may be aggregated together. Where this is not possible, the licence issued to the incoming vessel will be downgraded to take the lowest common level of authorisation of all the donor licence entitlements.
On disaggregation any beam trawl, scallop dredging, or shellfish permits associated with the licence, will be permitted to be allocated to be used, in one transaction only, either collectively or singly (nominated in section B of the AFL19 form). However, other components of the disaggregated licence, not allocated with any of these permits will retain track record and may be aggregated with base licences which do carry any of these permits, without the resultant licence losing that authority (aggregations involving components without such permits or track record would result in the loss of these permits).
Becoming the holder of a licence entitlement
Complete sections A and B of an ‘Establishment or Transfer of an Entitlement and Transfer of Licence’ application form (AFL7) Commercial fishing vessel licence application forms and send it to your local Marine Management Organisation (MMO) office.
The MMO will check the previous owner has agreed to the transfer. If all the documentation is in order the licence entitlement will be established in your name and you will receive the completed Section D ‘Notification of Entitlement’ of the AFL7 form.
You should note that a completed Section D of the AFL7 form is NOT a valid fishing vessel licence.
Apply for your licence
Complete an ‘Application for a Fishing Licence for a British Registered Vessel’ (AFL2) following the ‘Explanatory Notes and Conditions’ (AFL1) guidance to apply for a licence and send it to your local MMO office with your certificate of registry for the vessel
You may need to demonstrate an economic link between the vessel and the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man to make landings at certain ports within designated times. For more information, please contact your local MMO office.
Your vessel licence covers the UK EEZ. If you want access to non-UK waters, you should contact the UK Single Issuing Authority (UKSIA)
Moves in and out of England
Entry into the English Non-sector
With the introduction of the Fisheries Concordat in 2012 each of the four national UK Fisheries Administrations were given their own quota allocation for non-sector vessels. As quota is allocated according to the FQAs attached to the licences of vessels in the non-sector, the MMO needs to ensure that any new vessel entering the English non-sector brings in at least as many FQAs equivalent to the quota intended to fish.
If you intend joining the English non-sector you must complete a Fish Plan Notification form Commercial fishing vessel licence application forms to help ascertain if FQAs will be required based on the UK and England quota management rules.
Category changes when coming from Marine Scotland
On 01 July 2017 Marine Scotland created a single licence category for the over ten metre fleet in Scotland. However, category A, B or C licence entitlements transferring from Scotland will be received as a Category A, B or C as they were prior to 1 July 2017.
Scottish licences created through disaggregation or aggregation in Scotland after 30 June 2017 will be tracked back to the lowest common denominator and received accordingly on transfer to England. For example, a licence aggregation between an ex-Category B and an ex-Category A licence in Scotland will be received in England as a Category B licence.
FQA moratorium
There is a current embargo on the trading of FQA units to and from Scotland and the rest of the UK. Therefore FQA units will need to be removed from a licence entitlement before the entitlement can move to or from Marine Scotland.
The ban on the movement of FQA units from Scotland to the rest of the UK has been in place since January 2014. The embargo on units transferring from the rest of the UK to Scotland has been in place since December 2016
Request to change UK fisheries administration
Any vessel wishing to change administration within the UK should submit an application to change UK fisheries administration to its current administration for consideration.
The request to change a country of administration should take into account that fishing vessels will be administered from the territory that they predominantly fish out of, as set out in the Concordat criteria.
The completed form should be submitted to your local Marine Management Organisation (MMO) office for consideration. The form must be completed by the vessel owner(s) who wish to request the change of administration between England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Sole Recovery Zone, Cod Recovery Zone and Bass Authorisations.
SRZ and CRZ
In order to carry and use regulated gears in the Sole Recovery Zone (RSZ) and area 7d, referred to as the Cod recovery Zone (CRZ), a vessel must have eligibility through a known track record or via the transfer of a single licence (or the aggregation of two or more licences) where the originating vessel(s) has such a record of fishing activity with selective gears in these areas.
To check if a vessel or entitlement holds SRZ and/or CRZ eligibility please contact effort@marinemanagement.org.uk and visit the following web pages for more information of the schemes’ rules:
- Manage your fishing effort: Cod in ICES area 7d - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and
- Sole Recovery Zone rules - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Where a donor licence carries with it eligibility to fish in the CRZ and/or the SRZ, provided the donor vessel will no longer be using that eligibility, such eligibility to fish in the CRZ and/or SRZ will transfer to all the vessels being licensed by the component elements.
Bass
If you want to catch and retain bass by gears other than demersal trawls and seines, you must have a written authorisation from the MMO to do so. Authorisations are being issued to vessels with a track record of landing bass during the reference period of 1 July 2015 to 30 September 2016.
Once you have been issued an authorisation you will be permitted to catch and retain bass with the gear types listed on your authorisation, subject to the specific limitations for each gear.
A Bass authorisation does not transfer ownership with a licence entitlement. The authority remains with the vessel. If you are replacing a vessel that has a bass authorisation, a transfer of authorisation will be considered but is subject to strict rules. It is the responsibility of any vessel owner to seek relevant approvals from the MMO prior to making a commitment to purchase a new fishing vessel, where they are wanting to transfer any existing authorisation.
Full details of the current Bass Fishing Guidance can be found at the following webpage: Bass Fishing Guidance 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and queries relating to a Bass authorisation or transfer of an authorisation should be directed to bass@marinemanagement.org.uk
Contact information
For further information on domestic fishing vessel licensing rules please contact the Fisheries Management Team.
MMO Helpline: 0300 123 1032
Last updated 12 March 2024 + show all updates
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Update 12/03/24
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Prices changed
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First published.