Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 145: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the tonnage of a vessel (details supplied) will be transferred to a new boat. [4373/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, the functions of sea-fishing boat licensing were transferred from the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to the Licensing Authority for Sea-Fishing Boats, which operates on an independent basis subject to criteria set out in that Act and Ministerial Policy Directives. All applications for sea-fishing boat licences are considered by the Licensing Authority. The head of the Licensing Authority is the Registrar General of Fishing Boats who is a senior official in the Department.

The Registrar General has advised me that there is no record of the vessel in question having ever been registered on the current Fishing Boat Register. Only capacity (tonnage) sourced from vessels on the current Register can be used to introduce a replacement vessel.

In the normal way, the new owner is entitled to apply for a sea-fishing boat licence under standard fishing boat licensing conditions whereby all the conditions of the licence offer would have to be met, including safety standards and replacement capacity in terms of both tonnage and power at a ratio of 1:1, before the vessel can be entered onto the Fishing Boat Register and licensed to fish.