Introduction

You can apply once you have:

1) the certificate of registry in your name(s) from one of the following;

• Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) UK Ship Register
• Isle of Man Ship Registry
• Jersey ships Registry
• Registry of British ships from Guernsey Harbours.

2) at least one fishing entitlement in your name to license your vessel

3) an English, Isle of Man, Jersey or Guernsey port, letter, number (PLN) on your vessel.

The application form must be filled in by:

• the registered owner(s) of the vessel to be licensed
• an authorised signatory for the registered owner(s)
• a person with power of attorney for the registered owner(s)

To complete this application, you will need to have available:

• the certificate of registry
• vessel owner(s) contact details
• nominee and/or nominated person contact details
• the details for the entitlements you want to use to license this vessel (found on your AFL7 section D or AFL19 section F). The holder's details on the entitlements must be the same as the vessel owner details on the certificate of registry

If you are applying on behalf of a company based in Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man, we will need the certificate of registration and the list of company directors.

Please make sure the entitlement(s) you want to use to license this vessel are suitable for your requirements:

• overall length of the vessel (over 10 metres, or 10 metres and under)
• licence category
• licence permits – shellfish (all vessel lengths), scallop and beam trawl areas 4 and 7 (over 10m vessels only)
• engine power
• tonnage

Eligibility to fish for bass using regulated gears does not transfer ownership with a licence entitlement. The authority remains with the vessel. If you are replacing a vessel that has a bass authorisation, a transfer of authorisation will be considered but is subject to strict rules.

If MMO has given permission for the bass authorisation to be retained to be placed on another vessel in your ownership you will be asked to upload the confirmation letter or email during this application.

For vessels over 10m in overall length, in order to carry and use regulated gears in the Sole Recovery Zone (SRZ) and area 7d, referred to as Cod Area 7d, a vessel must have eligibility through a known track record or via the transfer of a single licence (or the aggregation of two or more licence entitlements) where the originating vessel(s) has such a record of fishing activity with selective gears in these areas.

Important

If the entitlements do not contain enough engine power or tonnage to license this vessel, you will need to obtain another entitlement to cover the shortfall.

If the engine power and tonnage on the entitlement are greater than the vessel requirements, any excess will be lost forever unless you first submit an AFL19 application to separate a fishing vessel licence entitlement. This is also known as disaggregating an entitlement.

Before you proceed with an application to separate a fishing vessel licence entitlement, please ensure that by disaggregating an entitlement it won’t affect the resulting shellfish, scallop or beam trawl permit. To access an AFL19 application form select this link (opens in new tab))