Policy on the Allocation and Management of Small Pelagic Commercial Fishing Rights: 2021.

This Policy on the Allocation and Management of Commercial Fishing Rights in the Small Pelagic Sector for directed anchovy and sardine 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. Aiming at recognising 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, the Policy defines the following specific objectives: a) rebuilding of the currently depleted sardine resource, in particular the western component; b) creation of an environment that attracts investment and stimulates job creation; c) improving investment in suitable vessels, processing and marketing infrastructure; d) encourage value-adding by rights holders through processing some percentage of their industrial fish allocation into products other than fishmeal or fish oil, preferably for human consumption; e) maintenance of current level of black ownership and improvement of other aspects of the transformation profile specifically the involvement of females, youth and people living with disabilities; f) reduction of sardine’s, horse mackerel’s and chub mackerel’s bycatches; g) strict adherence to environmental legislation dealing with wastage and pollution; h) promotion of viability and environmental sustainability of the sector through an efficient rights Allocation Process.
This Policy provides for: sector profile, including: history of the fishery, species taken as bycatch in anchovy fishing operations, types of vessels, sardines for human and animal consumption and for bait, fish products for industrial uses, operational management procedure; granting of fishing rights; evaluation criteria, including: exclusionary criteria (compliance, paper quotas, fronting), comparative balancing criteria (investment in the sector, access to infrastructure, job creation and sustainable employment, local economic development, value-adding and enterprise development, transformation, performance, multi-sector involvement, non payment of fish levies, compliance); quantum allocation methodology; new entrants; suitable vessels; application and grant of right fees; management measures, including: rebuilding sardine resources, monopoly, vessels and fishing effort; permit conditions; monitoring and evaluation of the policy; contraventions.