2 May 2014
The NFFO considers that a breakthrough has been made in dealing with the mountain of issues associated with the replacement of paper logbooks by electronic logbooks.
- Following a meeting in York, between the NFFO and a team of MMO
senior officials, including Chief Executive, James Cross, Barrie Deas, Chief
Executive of the NFFO said:“This is not an immediate resolution of all the issues facing the
industry; there is no magic wand. But there is now a recognition within the MMO
and Defra that we face a series of quite fundamental issues and there is now a palpable
commitment to resolving those issues through a workable and pragmatic approach,
working closely with the industry. Moving beyond simple denial that there is a
problem has taken time but that has now been achieved. The combination of
national level discussions such as those held today, and the series of regional
port meetings, to hear the views of those at the cutting-edge, has been crucial
to finding a way forward.”
“A failure to appreciate the complexity of implementing
e-logs along with weak procurement arrangements, have lead to stress and costly
errors across the industry. The problems have become more intense as e-logs and
VMS have been extended to the very diverse 12 to 15 metre fisheries. Over-reliance
on suppliers to provide industry guidance, and a failure to appreciate a range
of technical issues has compounded the confusion.”
Multi-faceted
Problems
The issues confronting the both regulators and fishermen are
complex and multi-faceted and include:
- The provisions of the EU Control Regulation and
how they are interpreted in Brussels - The inadequacy of guidance for the industry
- A series of unresolved technical issues
- Gaps between the regulator and the commercial
suppliers (failures in the procurement process) - Communications breakdowns and lack of technical
support/advice - Signal failures (relating to VMS too)
- High transmission costs
For day-boats, a conflict between meeting
regulatory catch recording requirements and the priority of the safety of the
crew and vessel
A series of port level meetings around the coast have been
useful in flushing out technical, guidance, safety, and cost problems
experienced. A meeting between fisheries administrations will also shortly take
place to take stock of the situation and possibly agree changes to the approach
followed so far.
Grant Support
The MMO was able to confirm that the industry’s fears about
having to face the costs of repeated software upgrades could be allayed,
subject to a Statutory Instrument that will shortly go before Parliament. The
new legislation will provide scope for the Government to cover future and past
software upgrades by grant.
Quota Management
The meeting confirmed that many of the problems currently
faced by quota managers in obtaining timely and accurate catch statistics can
be traced back to problems with e-logs systems. This is amplified in England
because of the larger number of individual vessels and the diversity of our
fisheries. This underlined the urgency in resolving the myriad outstanding
e-log issues. Accurate catch reporting is at the heart of the management system
and resolving these issues was given a high priority.
Landings Obligation
Resolving the problems associated with e-log implementation
has been given an added intensity by the impending EU landings obligation. Additional
reporting burdens are anticipated (notwithstanding Defra’s assessment that
fishermen are already exposed to the heaviest reporting and monitoring burden
of any of its stakeholders.) The Federation stressed that it would be
absolutely critical to resolve the e-log issues before that deadline.
Lessons Learnt
The Federation also made the point that the hard won lessons
associated with e-log implementation should be applied going forward into the
landings obligation.
These are:
- The absolute requirement for an adaptive approach that can adjust
rapidly to resolve issues as they arise - The equally essential need for concrete discussions with those affected
by the new regime from the beginning - Avoid gold
plating European requirements and make use of flexibilities that are
provided
EFF/EMFF
The opportunity was taken to raise again the industry’s view
that the MMO approach to processing EFF/EMFF grants placed impediments to
fishermen’s access to these funds. After an extensive discussion over the MMO’s
stewardship obligations and how the system could be streamlined, it was agreed
to collaborate in designing an application
pathway for fishermen that map out how the worst of the obstacles could be
avoided. The MMO stressed that it had a vital interest in making grants
available to the industry. The Federation will be working with the MMO on this
initiative in the coming weeks and months.