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The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) has found feedback shared on the IrieFINS online licensing and registration platform, to be critical in how improvements are done.
The Fisheries and Aquaculture Information System was developed in collaboration with the Transformation Implementation Unit (TIU) and the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.
Principal Director, Fisheries Compliance, Licensing and Statistics at the NFA, Dr. Zahra Oliphant said the Authority welcomes feedback on how the system operates.
“We are taking this opportunity to receive feedback from our internal staff, that assist fishers with using the system, as well as from individuals themselves who would attempt to use it on their own,” she said.
Dr. Oliphant who was speaking in an interview with JIS News, said feedback is often received through the chatbot on the IrieFINS platform.
“If based on the query that comes through the chat box, we recognise that there is a particular issue that a person is having, then our in-house licensing team will respond and reach out to that customer and rectify that issue. We don’t rely just on the AI, which has a standard set of questions and responses,” she said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Oliphant said the system has also received applications for recreational fishing.
“For an individual person to fish, you can fish either commercially or recreationally. Commercially, as the name suggests, mean that you fish for the purpose of earning money. Recreational fishing are persons who fish for pleasure. In 2024, we issued 255 recreational licenses,” she said.
IrieFINS has made it easier and faster for licensing and registration applications to be processed.
Fishers who are not licensed with the NFA are encouraged to take steps to become compliant with the law.