Get a fishing vessel licence: over 10 metres

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:

• UK Ship Register
• Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA)

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 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).

Transferring a licence/licence entitlement to another party

The current licence/entitlement holder will complete application ‘Establish or Transfer an Entitlement and Transfer of a Licence’ (AFL7) declaring that they are surrendering the licence/licence entitlement to a new holder. In this application they will provide the current licence/licence entitlement details and the new holder’s name, address, email and mobile phone number. The MMO will check the application and notify the new holder that the application has been received and will be processed within 5 working days.

Becoming the holder of a licence entitlement

The current licence entitlement holder will need to complete application ‘Establishment or transfer of an entitlement and transfer of a licence that is administered by Marine Management Organisation (AFL7)’ to transfer the licence entitlement into your name. 

If you are wanting to transfer a licence entitlement into your name, you do not need to complete this application but you will need to provide the current holder with the following details so they can tell us that they are surrendering the rights to their licence/licence entitlement to you.

The current holder will need the following details for all new holders.

• name
• address
• email address
• mobile phone number
• your company registration number if you are a UK company.

Once Marine Management Organisation receive the application from the current holder, we will notify you by email and you will be able to check the licence/licence entitlement details. If everything is in order, we will aim to send your ‘Notification of Entitlement’ within 5 working days.

You should note that a Notification of Entitlement is NOT a valid fishing vessel licence.

Apply for your licence

Select this link to open our application form page to apply for an fishing licence for a British registered fishing vessel (AFL2).

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 Area 7d and Bass Authorisations.

SRZ and CRZ

In order to carry and use regulated gears in the Sole Recovery Zone (SSZ) and area 7d, referred to as the Cod Area 7d, 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

Email: fishingvessellicensing@marinemanagement.org.uk