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The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is reporting that 5,615 individual fishing licences were processed through the IrieFins Platform, between April 2024 and January 2025.
The web-based application, which was implemented in collaboration with the Transformation Implementation Unit (TIU) in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service (MOFPS), allows for the registration and licensing of fishers.
Principal Director, Fisheries compliance, licensing and statistics at the NFA, Dr. Zahra Oliphant, said the licensing of vessels went live on the 21st of January this year.
“We are implementing in stages, so we started off with licensing the individuals and we were still doing some testing of the vessel module to ensure that it meets all our expectations. It went through quite a round of testing and feedback, so we are now doing licences for vessels on the platform with the first set of licences being processed currently,” she told JIS News in a recent interview.
Dr. Oliphant said the feedback from fishers has been positive with regards to the time taken to produce licences.
“The time that we’re taking to deliver the licences, that has improved. Also, we have been doing a lot more licences. For example, for the 2023 calendar year, we did a little over 10,000 and when I checked for 2024, it was over 11,000. Part of the contributing factor is that we have more persons who are independent of coming to the offices. They are logging on and applying for their fishing licence, particularly on weekends,” she said.
Persons using the system can engage with a chatbot on any day of the week, to ask questions about the licensing and registration process. Applying online can result in faster processing for applications as well.
“Some of them just log on to ask a question, such as how do I apply for a licence? So, the curiosity is there and persons have been using the platform independently of coming to the offices, and with the added benefit of being able to pay online with your credit card or Visa MasterCard debit, it does mean, too, that you end up being processed a little faster than those who opt to pay with cash,” Dr. Oliphant said.
Payments made directly online are instantly verified by the system itself as opposed to a cash payment.
Once persons are fishing, a licence is needed for both the individuals and the vessels.
The requirement for a licence to fish excludes persons fishing from the seashore or riverbank using a single line.