New shrimp return form requirements
Shrimp return forms are crucial to monitoring fishing activity in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and enabling a shrimp fishery throughout the district.
We are introducing new requirements for completing shrimp return forms which will come into effect from 1 January 2022.
If you fish for shrimps within the District at any point between 1 August and 31 July of any given year, you must complete return forms for the rest of that period.
You are required to submit a form to account for every day of the calendar year including when the vessel did not fish for shrimps. This means that you must submit a form for dates where you have not been fishing as well as when fishing has occurred. The frequency that you must submit completed forms depends on where you have been fishing in the last two years.
- Weekly returns – If a vessel has fished for shrimps within ICES 34F0 or 35F0 within the last two years, shrimp return forms for that vessel must be received by Eastern IFCA by Wednesday each week, relating to activity for the week before. This is because we need more frequent returns for fishing in these areas.
- Monthly returns – Otherwise, shrimp return forms for that vessel must be received by the 10th day of each month relating to activity for the previous month.
Vessel owners have been notified in writing if our records show that they have been shrimping and what frequency we require return forms.
We have also developed a new shrimp return form which is intended to make it easier to complete and submit return forms.
If we have not contacted you but you think you need a shrimp return book, please contact the office where a member of the team will be able to discuss it with you.
More information on why we need the forms is set out here
Guidance on how to complete forms can be found here