Fishers asked to help ease red tape burden – Fishupdate.com

Fishers asked to help ease red tape burden Published:  08 November, 2005

FISHERMEN are being asked to help UK fisheries department Defra simplify fisheries legislation.

Consultants working for the Department are talking to a cross-section

of the industry around England.

The project, which started this week, will gauge the amount of time

fishermen spend filling in forms, reading guidance from Defra, and

dealing with inspectors from the Marine Fisheries Agency.

Defra will use the information gathered to calculate the total

administrative costs that current fisheries rules impose on the

industry. This will help the Department search for cuts in the

burden of legislation, one of its priorities.

Those consulted will be representative of different fisheries,

operating vessels of varying sizes. Some will be contacted by phone,

others will be invited to meet the consultants at their home ports.

The Department is already working with the National Federation of

Fishermen’s Organisations to identify rules that can be abolished.

Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw said: “I am pressing the European

Commission to produce an Action Plan for simplifying EU fisheries law

by the end of the year. I’ve made it clear that the Commission should

be looking for changes that will remove burdens from fishermen as

soon as possible.

“Many governments have said they are concerned about the burden of

form -filling and inspection on business, and the UK is facing up to

the challenge by pledging to properly measure the scale of the

problem and then set meaningful targets to reduce it.”

The Administrative Burdens project is being carried out across

Government.It is to identify the current burden of legislation on

business.Targets for cuts will then be set.

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