Policy on the Allocation and Management of Commercial Fishing Rights in the Squid Fishery: 2021.

This Policy on the allocation and management of commercial fishing rights in the squid fishery is issued by the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, and must be read in conjunction with the General Policy on the allocation of commercial fishing rights: 2021. This Policy provides for: profile of the fishery, including: description of the fishery, history of the fishery, current resource users, biological status of the squid fishery; the fishing rights allocation process related to the previous years. Concerning the objectives, this Policy recognises the need to ensure the optimal, long-term and justifiable use of marine living resources, in order to achieve sustainable development of the fishing sector and an inclusive level of economic growth and to to create sustainable employment consistent with National Government’s development objectives. Specific objectives of the squid fishery regard: a) definition of criteria (exclusionary and balancing criteria) for the assessment of applications for the allocation of commercial fishing rights in the squid fishery; b) promotion of meaningful transformation and growth in the squid fishery in terms of factory ownership, export, value adding and diversification of squid products, vessel ownership and management, development of skills for skippers, crew and shore personnel; c) increase in the overall transformation profile of the fishery through consideration of specific demographic groups, with a focus on Designated Groups, women and persons with disability in allocation of commercial fishing rights to successful applicants; d) adherence to thematic national legislation; e) suitable utilisation of the squid resources.
Concerning commercial fishing rights allocation process, matters covered by this Policy regard: application for commercial fishing rights; evaluation criteria, including: exclusionary criteria (compliance, paper quotas, fronting), comparative balancing criteria (compliance, access to suitable vessels, fishing performance); granting of commercial fishing rights; multi-sector involvement; application and grant-of-right fees; transfer of commercial fishing rights; management measures sustainable utilisation of squid resources, including: total allowable effort (TAE), permitting, law enforcement; observer at sea and land-based monitoring; contraventions; monitoring and evaluation of the Policy.