Sea Fisheries Licence Suspensions

Summary

A request was made for details on suspended sea fisheries licences, including vessel names and holder identities, but the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture only disclosed specific suspension dates and one vessel name while withholding other details due to ongoing investigations.

Key Facts

• The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) partially responded to the request regarding sea fisheries licence suspensions.
• Information on vessel names and licence holders was withheld to protect ongoing investigations and the right to a fair trial.
• One specific vessel, MFV Kingfisher, was identified with a suspension effective from 21 March 2018 for three months.
• Five additional suspension notifications were issued between April 10 and April 24, 2018, pending further investigations.
• The public interest test concluded that maintaining the exemption outweighed the benefits of full disclosure.

Data Disclosed

• 19th March 2018
• 21 March 2018
• three calendar months
• 10th April 2018
• 11 April 2018
• 1 June 2018
• 10 April 2018
• 11 April 2018
• 18 April 2018
• 24 April 2018
• 13th March 2018
• MFV Kingfisher
• section 31(1)

Exemptions Cited

• Section 31(1) of the Act (prejudice to law enforcement and investigations)

Original Request

Please provide: 1. The names and port registration numbers of each fishing vessel in respect of which the sea fisheries licences issued by DEFA have been suspended in the last two years. 2. The dates on which each suspension was made in respect of the vessels concerned and the periods of the suspensions. 3. The names of the holders of the licences of each of the fishing vessels which has had the licence issued in respect of it suspended.

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

Full Response Text

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Freedom of Information Co-ordinator Corporate Services Directorate Thie Slieau Whallian, Foxdale Road, St John’s, Isle of Man, IM4 3AS Tel no (01624) 685854 Fax no (01624 685851 Email: defa@gov.im www.gov.im

Our ref: 459333 22nd May 2018

Dear ### Freedom of Information request re. Sea Fisheries Licence Suspensions

We write further to your request which was received on the 30th April 2018 and which states:

"Please provide: 1. The names and port registration numbers of each fishing vessel in respect of which the sea fisheries licences issued by DEFA have been suspended in the last two years. 2. The dates on which each suspension was made in respect of the vessels concerned and the periods of the suspensions. 3. The names of the holders of the licences of each of the fishing vessels which has had the licence issued in respect of it suspended."

Our response to your questions are as follows: 1. No further information released, other than that already in the public domain. 2. a) MFV Kingfisher, suspension of licence notified to the licence holder on 19th March 2018 to take effect from 00:01 hours on 21 March 2018 for a period of three calendar months (see below); b) Suspension of licence notified to the licence holder on 10th April 2018 to take effect from 00:01 hours on 11 April 2018 until 00:01 hours on 1 June 2018; c) 10 April 2018 – with immediate effect (pending further investigations); d) 11 April 2018 – with immediate effect (pending further investigations); e) 18 April 2018 – with immediate effect (pending further investigations); f) 24 April 2018 – with immediate effect (pending further investigations). 3. No further information released, other than that already in the public domain. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, as we have done to partly answer your second question, in this instance some of the information (which would answer your questions 1 and 3 and part of question 2) is exempt from disclosure pursuant to section 31(1) of the Act as it is information held by the Department for the purposes of investigations that the Department has a duty to conduct to ascertain whether a person should be charged with an offence or a person charged with an offence is guilty of it.

As section 31 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large and not simply a matter of interest to the public.

Factors in favour of disclosure • open and transparent disclosure of information; • promoting public understanding and trust in Government regulation of Manx Fisheries; • promoting good decision-making by the Department by opening up the results of regulatory activity to public scrutiny; • providing the public with confidence that the Department is enforcing legislation. Factors in favour of withholding • general public interest in the matter can be achieved through release of some information without disclosing specific details; • any release of specific information could jeopardise or influence any subsequent prosecution; • the vessel owners / skippers right to a fair trial would be undermined were any investigation to result in a trial; • the release of information may result in skippers and / or vessel owners becoming the subject of un-necessary scrutiny; • in some circumstances, the nature of an offence that leads to the Department taking a decision to impose a licence suspension is not so severe that further legal action is deemed necessary; no wider public interest would be served by release of greater detail relating to this lower level of sanction; • if an investigation does result in prosecution action then more information would consequently be released to the public after the outcome of the hearing; • advice from other UK jurisdictions is that the information requested would not be released and as the fishing fleet crosses various jurisdictions, it would be beneficial to adopt a consistent approach to such enquiries.

In assessing the weight to be attributed to each of the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption, the Department has taken the following into consideration: • the impact of releasing information on the on-going investigations and potential legal proceedings; • the rights of the public to be aware of how the Department enforces its legislation; • the impact on the Manx fisheries of releasing specific, detailed information. Having taken all of the above factors into account, the Department determines that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information. Further information The details of one of the licence holders and vessels is already in the public domain.
Following a successful conviction in the Isle of Man Deputy High Bailiff Court on 13th March 2018 the Department took a decision to suspend the Isle of Man sea fishing licence associated with the following vessel, using powers conferred under Section 38 of the Fisheries Act 2012: • MFV Kingfisher (BA810) belonging to West Coast Sea Products Ltd; • The licence associated with MFV Kingfisher was suspended for a period of three calendar months from 00:01 hours on 21 March 2018 to 00:01 hours on 20 November 2018 in order to accommodate the seasonal nature of the King Scallop fishery. The Department can also inform you that in addition to the vessel mentioned above, of the further 5 vessels which have had their sea fisheries licenses suspended, two are Isle of Man registered and three are Scottish registered; • Of these, four of the licences have been suspended pending further investigation and potential legal proceedings, as noted in 2(c – f) above; • The fifth licence has been suspended until the end of the 2017/18 Isle of Man King Scallop season, which is 31 May 2018, a noted in 2(b) above. Please quote the reference number 459333 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im.Should you have any questions concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi. I will now close your request as of this date. Yours sincerely Frank Harrison Freedom of Information Co-ordinator