A Defra consultation at the end of last year has concluded that I-VMS will be introduced for all owners or operators of licensed British fishing boats under 12 m in length operating in English waters. The stated policy objective was to gain better information on where all such vessels are fishing, align the requirement for VMS across the whole fleet thus improve understanding of the entire fishing activity of our fleet and to help inform future fisheries management. This new requirement will be implemented via a statutory instrument, but it is not expected to be before 2021 to allow for the roll-out.
Depending on any agreed access of EU or foreign vessels post-EU Exit, a similar requirement would be applied to such vessels.
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