Section 3 Decommissioning grants

(1)

Any person who owns a registered vessel—

(a)

which is over 10 metres in length,

(b)

in respect of which there is a licence to which sub-paragraph (2) below applies,

(c)

which whilst registered as a United Kingdom vessel has, during each of the calendar years 1995 and 1996, spent at least the appropriate number of days at sea on fishing trips,

(d)

which is at least 10 years old at the date of the application, and

(e)

which, in the case of a vessel over 12 metres in registered length had, on the date of application, either a valid vessel certificate under the provisions of the Fishing Vessels (Safety Provisions) Rules 1975^f1 or a letter confirming the completion of a satisfactory survey issued by the Secretary of State for Transport,

may make an application to the Ministers in respect of that vessel.

(2)

This sub-paragraph applies to the following classes of Category A^f2 licences:

(a)

Category A;

(b)

Category A (Purser);

(c)

Category A (Freezer);

(d)

Category A (Moratorium).

(3)

The Ministers shall publish a notice specifying the appropriate number of days in such manner as they consider appropriate.

(4)

Notwithstanding sub-paragraph (1) above, the Ministers may reject an application in respect of a vessel which in their opinion is not fit for undertaking fishing trips.

(5)

Notwithstanding sub-paragraph (1) above, no person may make an application in respect of any fishing vessel in respect of which an application was approved by the Ministers under the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) Scheme 1996^f3 but which was not decommissioned in accordance with that scheme.

(6)

Notwithstanding sub-paragraph (1) above, no person may make an application in respect of any fishing vessel which between 1st January and 31st December 1996 spent more days at sea on nephrops fishing trips than on any other fishing trips.

(7)

In this paragraph—

“the appropriate number of days” means such number of days as the Ministers may from time to time determine;
“licence” means one or more licences granted in respect of a vessel under section 4 of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967^f4;
“nephrops fishing trip” means any day on which the catch landed by the fishing vessel consisted of at least 30% nephrops (Nephrops norvegicus) and not more than 60% of other species listed in Annex II to Council Regulation (EC) No. 894/97^f5.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: S.I. 1975/330, amended by S.I. 1975/471, 1976/432, 1977/313, 498, 1978/1598, 1873, 1981/567, 1991/1342 and by the Fisheries Act 1981, Schedule 3, paragraph 8(3).
f2: A Category A licence is a licence which authorises fishing in all or any part of the Community waters for all or any of the species of sea fish for which the United Kingdom has a share of the Community total allowable catch.
f3: S.I. 1996/1242.
f4: 1967 c. 84; section 4 was amended by the Fishery Limits Act 1976 (c. 86), section 3, the Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29), section 20 and the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1992 (c. 60), section 1.
f5: O.J. No. L132, 23.5.97, p. 1.