Skippers and owners of smaller Irish fishing vessels are to be given training in the use of electronic logbooks at sea.
The training is to be provided for the 12 to 15-metre category of vessel which had been exempt until now in use of electronic recording and reporting.
The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) says it will provide the training to an estimated total of 48 vessels in this category.
The Electronic Recording & Reporting System (ERS), as it is known, is a system for recording, reporting, processing, storing, and transmitting fisheries data (catch, landing, sales and transhipment) according to the EU rules.
The key element of the ERS is the electronic logbook, which is used to record and transmit details of fishing operations securely.
The information is managed by the master of the fishing vessel and is transmitted to the member states authorities where the authentic fishing operation details are kept in a secure database.
All vessels 12m or greater are required to use Electronic Recording & Reporting System (ERS) since January 2012.
To date, an exemption has been in place for some vessels that fall into the 12-15m category on the basis of either: the vessel is at sea less than 24 hours per trip, or the vessel is fishing within the 12 nautical mile limit, the SFPA says.
“This exemption is now being removed for the 12-15m category – which consists of approximately 48 registered vessels - ahead of pending regulations that will require 10m-12m vessels to also have ERS on board,” it says.
Details and dates of the training are as follows:
- Thursday 30th March – Castletownbere 09:00 – 17:00
- Tuesday 4th April - Greencastle 09:00 – 17:00
- Thursday 13th April - Dingle 09:00 – 17:00
- Tuesday 18th April - Dublin 09:00 – 17:00
- Thursday 19th April - Wexford 09:00 – 17:00
- Tuesday 25th April - Westport 09:00 – 17:00
