New Digital Fisheries Licensing and Registration System to Be Launched on February 5

The Government is set to launch its long-awaited online licensing and registration system for the fisheries sector on February 5.

The new system is expected to reduce the time taken to produce fishing licences as well as support the sector’s efficient management.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, made the disclosure during a media briefing at the Ministry’s offices in Kingston on Wednesday (January 31).

“I have heard a number of our fishers across various parishes speak about the licensing process, how long it takes for them to renew their licences and the impact that has on them because of their inability to go to sea if they do not have an up-to-date licence. If their licence is not valid, [it] clearly puts them at great risk in relation to running afoul of the law,” Mr. Green said.

“We have been implementing a programme through the National Fisheries Authority, along with the Transformation Implementation Unit, that seeks to improve our regulation and management and enhance our overall licensing and registration system,” he added.

The Minister informed that under this project, all the computing and networking equipment critical for establishing the system has been bought, adding that testing is already under way.

Currently, the licence application and renewal process spans approximately two weeks.

“If you know our fishers, most of them, once the weather is good, they try to go out and, as such, it would be two weeks that they are unable to go out because they would run afoul of the law. Under this new process we expect to be able to return licences within a week because, again, it is a new digitised process, and it will give our fishers the ability to apply from anywhere they are in Jamaica,” Mr. Green explained.

“They will not have to go into a physical space to have the application done; so, we will go more into it when we have the formal launch. But I did want to signal to the media and to our fishers that we are addressing the licence concern,” he added.

By way of policy, fishers can apply for a renewal of licence anytime during the year, and do not need to wait until it has expired.

“You can apply for the licence, it will be processed, your new licence will be issued, and it will be dated to start when your old licence expires. So, I want to say to our fishers that we have heard you and we are looking at ways to make the process easier for you, so that you do not have some of those challenges,” Mr. Green said.