Merchant Shipping (registration of ships bill 2013)

http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bill ... s-memo.pdf

Tell me I'm reading this wrong, Part 2, Section II

Quote:
Section 11 sets out the requirements for certain ships to register
on the Irish Register of Ships. It provides that all ships operating
domestically including passenger, commercial and recreational craft
equal to or greater than 24 metres in load line length, all fishing boats
(including fishing boats under 15 metres in length overall), personal
watercraft (jet skis), small fast powered craft and small boats carrying
no more than three passengers for the purposes of angling will be
required to be registered on the Register in accordance with the Bill
or to have a current valid registration conferring nationality from
another country if appropriate. Recreational craft less than 24 metres
in load line length (other than personal watercraft and small fast
powered craft which are required to register) and warships will not
be required to register. State-owned ships, other than warships, will
be required to be registered on the relevant Part of the Register.
The section enables the Minister to prescribe the categories or

Sounds like another money grabbing excercise

It'll be a while yet before this passes all stages, so plenty of time for amendents.
http://www.dttas.ie/press-releases/2013 ... ation-bill

http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?Do ... &&CatID=59

In fairness to Leo, he's pretty good at responding to emails, so I might send him one (leoconstituency@dttas.ie).

Hi,
The way I read it is, if you have more than 3 onboard you do not have to register under 3 you do, bizzare. not sure how it will be enforced, most likely when and if you need assistance etc.
Professionally its not a bad thing seeing some of the floating nightmare's we have to go to, but as said its real motive is just to bring in more money, as sure as hell it will not be free!!
Happy New year!!
screeming

Good spot Donal!
I suppose it was always going to come at some time or other. Hopefully not though. It will be interesting to see if it will be amended when the screaming begins...
I shiver when I see "€150 fixed penalty for a range of "offences" ".
My fear would be that registration would be the thin end of the wedge... If a crowd like the RSA get their way we will be like a police state.

again, more __ jobs for the boys,its really becoming a real money grabbing state,what will they do next,what will effect us as boat anglers,the commercial tax,now private on our jeeps,the insurance,cost of disel and petrol,a trip to cork now costing about 150 euro,the eb towing licence,the new upcoming nct of trailers to be done yearly,ships licence,new state licence,do the government kown what angling brings to the country,wankers,wrant over,eddie.....

Only a metter of time before its like driving a car, a minimum of twelve lessons and the a test and then an n.c.t type survey every year money money money under the health and safety umbrella excuse

"No more than three passengers" is an odd wording all right. My boat (Explorer Elite) is rated for four, like the Warrior 165 and similar. It'll be interesting to see if this turns out to be the acceptable cut-off point, and if new controls will be aimed at regulating anything smaller and less sea-worthy. We can only hope....

Surely the definition of a merchant vessel is a ship that transports cargo or passengers, ie a ship that is engaged in commercial trade or carries passengers for hire. Surely that should exclude pleasure craft. If not it will have a big detremental effect on visitors both sailing and angling. Go on shoot youselves on the foot.

Looked at the bill again.

Requirement to register certain ships
11. (1) Subject to subsections (2), (9) and (10), all ships operating domestically, including—
(a) a fishing boat in respect of which a sea-fishing boat licence has been granted or is
required to be held under section 4 (inserted by section 97 of the Act of 2006) of
the Act of 2003,
(b) personal watercraft and small fast powered craft, and
(c) a ship carrying not more than 3 passengers for the purposes of angling as
exempted in the Licensing of Passenger Boats (Exemption) Regulations 2002
(S.I. No. 274 of 2002) from the requirement to be licensed under section 14 of the
Merchant Shipping Act 1992,
are required to be registered on the Register in accordance with this Act.

The 2002 SI

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2002/en/si/0274.html

3. The following class of vessel is hereby exempted from the requirement to be licensed under section 14 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1992 (No. 2 of 1992), as amended, that is to say,

vessels, being open vessels of no less than 4 metres in length, carrying no more than 3 passengers on board for the purpose of angling and engaged on domestic voyages in smooth waters on canals, rivers, lakes and loughs.

So it looks like a current exemption is being removed.?!? And this exemption is for inland boats.

Reply from Minister Varadkar.

On behalf of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr Leo Varadkar, T.D., I refer further to your recent enquiry in connection with the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Bill 2013.

Firstly, I wish to explain that under the new ship registration regime it is proposed that, with a few exceptions, it will be mandatory for all ships operating domestically to be registered on the Irish Register of Ships. The proposed registration requirement will apply to all passenger and commercial ships, recreational craft equal to and greater than 24 metres in load line length, fishing boats that hold a sea-fishing boat licence granted under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, personal watercraft, small fast powered craft and ships carrying no more than three passengers for the purposes of angling as exempted in the Licensing of Passenger Boats (Exemption) Regulations 2002 from the requirement to be licensed under section 14 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1992 as amended. The categories or types of ships that will be required to register on specific Parts of the new Register will be set out in regulations to be made under the provisions of the Bill when it is enacted.

With regard to your specific query, as you may be aware under the existing Licensing of Passenger Boats (Exemption) Regulations 2002 (S.I. No. 274 of 2002) certain angling boats are exempted from the requirement to have a passenger boat licence. As stated above, it is proposed that all passenger and commercial ships will be subject to ship registration and in order to make it clear that this will also apply to the smaller angling boats, including those that are exempt from the passenger boat licence requirement, a specific reference to those vessels that carry no more than three passengers is included in the Bill. Therefore, it is not the case that angling boats less than 24 metres carrying four or more passengers will not be required to register under the new ship registration proposals. If the angling boat is a passenger boat or is used on a commercial basis it will be subject to a registration requirement. I would also like to explain that registration is separate to and does not change the existing passenger boat licence exemption that may apply to certain angling boats.

I hope this clarifies the matter for you.

Yours sincerely,


Chris Smith
Private Secretary to Minister Leo Varadkar

Pidgeon <<<< Cat >>>> pidgeon

F€@ked again,Eddie..

Wondering how this bit will play out..

If the angling boat is a passenger boat or is used on a commercial basis it will be subject to a registration requirement.

I would think that are saying here:
Licenced passenger boats or commercial boats under 24 metres will have to be registered as well as having a commercial licence of a passenger licence.

I would think that our only hope is that there is a bigger lobby group out there than us small boat anglers.....

Some correspondence today. Make your submissions guys!

Ref: MLL 19/3

17 January 2014

Mr John Diamond
Sea Angling Ireland


Re: Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Bill 2013
A Chara,

I have been asked by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr Leo Varadkar, T.D., to write to you to inform you that the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Bill 2013 was published on 23 December 2013 and will be considered by the Houses of the Oireachtas in 2014.

The primary purpose of the Bill is to replace and update the Mercantile Marine Act 1955, as amended, so as to provide a basis for the establishment and regulation of a modernised ship registration system in Ireland with a new centralised, electronic and accessible national ship register, the Irish Register of Ships, at its core. The Bill provides a basis for an extension of mandatory ship registration to additional ship categories, the introduction of ship registration renewal, as well as improved enforcement.

Under the new regime it is proposed that, with a few exceptions, it will be mandatory for all ships operating domestically (i.e. on any voyage which is wholly or partially in Irish waters other than an international voyage which does not originate or terminate in the State) to be registered on the Irish Register of Ships or to have a current valid registration conferring nationality from another country. The categories or types of ships that will be required to register on specific Parts of the new Register, as well as the detail of the registration procedures, will be set out in regulations to be made under the provisions of the Bill when it is enacted. If necessary, it will be possible to establish different Parts of the Register at different times. Therefore, the Bill provides an enabling framework to facilitate new secondary ship registration regulations. The current arrangements for the registration of ships will continue until such time as the Bill is considered by the Oireachtas and enacted, the new Irish Register of Ships is in place and the relevant provisions of the Bill and subsequent regulations are commenced.

The Appendix to this letter gives some information on the changes and improvements proposed as well as a summary of the content of the Bill. A copy of the Bill and Explanatory and Financial Memorandum as published, the Regulatory Impact Analysis on the proposals, and a questions and answers document are available to view on the Department’s website at http://www.dttas.ie/maritime/maritimesa ... timesafety.

If you have any comments or questions on the Bill, you are invited to send the details to Ms Lorraine McGurk, Irish Maritime Administration – Maritime Safety Policy Division, Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Floor 4, Leeson Lane, Dublin 2 or by email to lorrainemcgurk@dttas.ie by close of business on Friday, 31 January 2014. If you are interested in further briefing on particular aspects of the proposals, please indicate this in your correspondence.

I wish to draw your attention to the fact that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 1997 and responses received to this letter may be the subject of information requests to the Department under that Act in the future.

Mise le meas,



________________________

Michelle Kavanagh
Maritime Safety Policy Division - Irish Maritime Administration
Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport
Leeson Lane
Dublin 2
Ph. (01) 6041101

and the appendix to the letter

Appendix

Proposed New Ship Registration Regime under the
Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Bill 2013 – Briefing Note

Background/Purpose of the Bill
International maritime law requires that every State fix the conditions for the grant of its nationality to ships, for the registration of ships in its territory and for the right to fly its flag. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is the national authority with responsibility for the registration of Irish ships under the Mercantile Marine Act 1955, as amended by the Merchant Shipping (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1998, and the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006. The Mercantile Marine Act 1955, as amended, provides for the national character, ownership and registry of Irish ships, as well as for the mortgage, sale, transfer and measurement of tonnage of such ships and other connected matters. The existing register is primarily a vehicle for the registration of ship ownership and accompanying financial interests. Under the 1955 Act, ship registration duties are carried out by officers of the Revenue Commissioners (Registrars of Ships).

It is a goal of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to progress an updated and enhanced national maritime legislative code for the Irish Maritime Administration. The primary purpose of the Bill is to replace and update the Mercantile Marine Act 1955, as amended, to provide a legislative basis for the establishment and regulation of a modern and comprehensive ship registration system in Ireland.

Current registration requirements
Under the current ship registration regime ships wholly owned by an Irish citizen or an Irish body corporate are obliged to register unless the ship is exempt from the requirement to register as follows:

• ships not exceeding 15 net tons, provided they are only used on the rivers, canals, lakes or coasts of Ireland, Great Britain, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man
• ships acquired before the date of the passing of the Mercantile Marine Act 1955 (22 December 1955)
• ships in respect of which the Minister has consented to their registration under the laws of another country under section 21 of the 1955 Act
• ships owned by Irish citizens not ordinarily resident within the State
• sea-fishing boats of less than 15 metres in length overall and required to be registered in the Register of Fishing Boats maintained under section 74 of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 or exempt from such registration by regulations under section 76 of that Act.

The Mercantile Marine Act 1955 does not apply to ships of the Naval Service of the Defence Forces which are wholly manned by personnel of that Service.

Review and consultation
A review of the vessel registration regime, including an extensive public consultation process, has been undertaken over a number of years and was initiated against a background of international and national developments in the maritime area since the current legislation was introduced in 1955. These developments include a growth in maritime trade, an increase in the use of pleasure craft and an increasing emphasis on safety, security and environmental issues and on flag state obligations.

Proposed changes and improvements in registration procedures
The following are some of the main improvements proposed:

• Subject to a number of exemptions, it will be mandatory for all ships operating domestically (any voyage which is wholly or partially in Irish waters other than an international voyage which does not originate or terminate in the State) to be registered on the Irish Register of Ships. A registration conferring nationality from another state will be an acceptable form of registration.


• The proposed registration requirement will apply to all passenger and commercial ships, fishing boats (including fishing boats less than 15 metres in length overall) that hold a sea-fishing boat licence granted under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, recreational craft equal to and greater than 24 metres in load line length, personal watercraft, small fast powered craft and ships carrying no more than three passengers for the purposes of angling that are exempted from the requirement to hold a passenger boat licence under section 14 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1992 as amended. It will be mandatory for different types of ships to be registered on specific Parts of the Register.

• The following ships will be exempt from registration on the Irish Register of Ships:

o Recreational craft less than 24 metres in load line length, other than personal watercraft (jet skis) and small fast powered craft
o Warships.

• The establishment of a new centralised, electronic and accessible Irish Register of Ships.

• A new register structure incorporating different Parts for the registration of different types of ships and for different registration purposes, e.g. visitor registration. There will be different registration requirements for different Parts of the Register which will be set out in regulations to be made under the Bill. If necessary, it will be possible to establish different Parts of the Register at different times.

• A system of visitor registration is proposed for recreational craft 24 metres in load line length and greater, personal watercraft (jet skis) and small fast powered craft, where such craft are not registered in another country and wish to operate in Irish waters for short periods not exceeding three months. This will be a simplified form of registration and for a nominal fee, so as not to impact negatively on tourism.

• To improve the integrity and accuracy of the ship register, ship registration renewal is proposed. A ship registration will have to be renewed up to 5 years after initial registration and at intervals of up to 10 years thereafter. It is proposed that Irish ships that are registered under the current regime will be transferred free of charge to an appropriate Part of the new Register for an initial period of up to 5 years and, subject to compliance with the requirements of the Bill, will then become eligible for consideration for renewal of their registration.

• All new ship registrations and ship registration renewals will involve payment of a fee, which will be prescribed by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in a fees order made with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

• New provisions to allow for the refusal of ship registration or the removal of unsafe or unsuitable ships from the Register. An appeal process is provided for in certain circumstances.

• An improved enforcement and penalty regime to include:

 increases in penalty levels;
 a power of detention given to surveyors for ship registration related offences;
 the introduction of a system of fixed payments (€150) in lieu of prosecution for certain offences involving personal watercraft, small fast powered craft and smaller angling ships, and
 the designation of a range of State personnel as authorised persons for enforcement purposes.

The Bill also provides for a number of consequential amendments to other legislation as well as an updated definition of “Safety Convention” in the Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act 1952 in relation to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and its recent amendments.

Summary of the Bill
The Bill is divided into nine Parts and has four Schedules.

Part 1 (Sections 1–8) (Preliminary and General) sets out a set of standard provisions including the meaning of particular words and phrases used in the Bill.

Part 2 (Sections 9–32) (Registration of Ships) establishes the framework for the new Irish Register of Ships, the new ship registration process and administration.

Part 3 (Sections 33–38) (Irish Ships, National Colour and Character) clarifies which ships may be known as Irish ships and the requirements in relation to the flying of flags by such ships.

Part 4 (Sections 39–42) (Enforcement) contains provisions for the enforcement of the ship registration regime.

Part 5 (Sections 43–47) (Legal Issues) carries forward some general legal provisions in the Mercantile Marine Act 1955 relating to documentary evidence and declarations in relation to ship registration.

Part 6 (Sections 48–62) (Private Law Provisions) carries forward and updates where necessary a range of private law provisions for registered ships that were contained in the Mercantile Marine Act 1955 relating to such matters as title, ownership, transfers of ships and mortgages on ships.

Part 7 (Sections 63–67) (Proceedings) contains provisions relating to proceedings for offences under the Bill, summary penalties and the liability of both the owner and master of a ship when certain offences are committed.

Part 8 (Section 68) (Consequential Amendments) provides for a number of consequential amendments to other legislation as specified in Schedule 4 arising from the provisions of the Bill.

Part 9 (Section 69) (Safety Convention) extends the enabling provisions for national secondary legislation to implement amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).

Schedule 1 provides for the repeal of the Mercantile Marine Act 1955 and other legislative provisions that will be replaced by the provisions of the Bill.

Schedule 2 specifies a number of statutory instruments that are being revoked as a consequence of the repeal of the Mercantile Marine Act 1955.

Schedule 3 lists the existing ports of registry in the State for ship registration purposes.

Schedule 4 provides for amendments to provisions in a range of existing legislation arising from the introduction of the Bill.



Irish Maritime Administration
Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport
January 2014

I sent a quick email back as follows

Thanks Lorraine.
The crux of the issue is that anglers on my site own small recreational boats for their own use. If they start angling from the boat does this mean they should register?


or are they covered as follows

• The following ships will be exempt from registration on the Irish Register of Ships:

o Recreational craft less than 24 metres in load line length, other than personal watercraft (jet skis) and small fast powered craft

Many thanks,
John

They seem to be contradicting themselves. One part of the appendix states that Jet skies and small bats, will need to be registered, then in the next paragraph, it is stated that boats (or have they lost the plot and call everything the floats a ship) under 24 mtr and small personal craft, jet skies. Copied and pasted below.

• The proposed registration requirement will apply to all passenger and commercial ships, fishing boats (including fishing boats less than 15 metres in length overall) that hold a sea-fishing boat licence granted under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, recreational craft equal to and greater than 24 metres in load line length, personal watercraft, small fast powered craft and ships carrying no more than three passengers for the purposes of angling that are exempted from the requirement to hold a passenger boat licence under section 14 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1992 as amended. It will be mandatory for different types of ships to be registered on specific Parts of the Register.

• The following ships will be exempt from registration on the Irish Register of Ships:

o Recreational craft less than 24 metres in load line length, other than personal watercraft (jet skis) and small fast powered craft.
o Warships.

I would suggest that "ships" carrying less than 3 passengers would be far from what any person with a single brain cell would call a ship. This is just another way of screwing us all and making more money for the pompous, fat cats up in Lienster House, they need there €3000 a week pensions and massive salaries.

It will end up being nothing short of a golden cow to them. It will hit the much under pressure charter skippers and as a result us anglers who depend on charter boats, not ships.

Someone said that it would not be a bad thing, considering the state of some of the boats they were forced to go out in, I am paraphrasing them, well there will not be any improvement in any wreck boats anyone goes out on. This is nothing short of another way to take our money, the atate of boats will be the last matter they will want to worry about. Considering that everything they do is just to take our money, then why should they refuse a licence/registration to any boat, that would be less money for them?

What is amusing to me, and if you think about it you have to laugh, it is the minister responsible for tourism who is the one who is going to stop people coming here to fish, sail or do anything on our waters. I suspect that this, in common with VRT, will be another illegal move and that the government will pay fines day after day and keep on doing what they have been told to stop, they are the same over the cutting of turf.

It is a bad thing for us anglers, I cannot see any benefit coming our way from this, just more hardship for anglers. There is only one good thing as I see it, they will not be able to touch the RNLI boats, they are all registered in the UK, no matter where they operate.

Regards Wez

Looked at the bill again.

Requirement to register certain ships
11. (1) Subject to subsections (2), (9) and (10), all ships operating domestically, including—
(a) a fishing boat in respect of which a sea-fishing boat licence has been granted or is
required to be held under section 4 (inserted by section 97 of the Act of 2006) of
the Act of 2003,
(b) personal watercraft and small fast powered craft, and
(c) a ship carrying not more than 3 passengers for the purposes of angling as
exempted in the Licensing of Passenger Boats (Exemption) Regulations 2002
(S.I. No. 274 of 2002) from the requirement to be licensed under section 14 of the
Merchant Shipping Act 1992,
are required to be registered on the Register in accordance with this Act.

The 2002 SI

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2002/en/si/0274.html

3. The following class of vessel is hereby exempted from the requirement to be licensed under section 14 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1992 (No. 2 of 1992), as amended, that is to say,

vessels, being open vessels of no less than 4 metres in length, carrying no more than 3 passengers on board for the purpose of angling and engaged on domestic voyages in smooth waters on canals, rivers, lakes and loughs.

So it looks like a current exemption is being removed.?!? And this exemption is for inland boats.

John I think you are mis-reading the 2002 SI what that is stating is a vessel for hire / passenger boat that is under 4 meters and basically used on fresh water lakes or smooth waters for angling etc is exempt from a passenger boat licence once it meets the conditions of the exemption. The reasoning behind that is most small open lake boats used on for example the Shannon and the lakes of Killarney could never have been brought up to the required standard for a passenger license

Sorry I haven't read the entire threads on this subject but I wouldn't be surprised if no one has yet commented on what registering a ship involves and the related costs ie: measurement for tonnage and survey on top of administration costs etc.

May-be I mis-read with the quick glance I gave it here this new bill, but I don't understand the part about even boats with a commercial fishing licence will have to register, a boat of any size could not be granted a commercial fishing license if it wasn't registered ( outside of may-be a salmon draft net / snap net license) the licence is granted by the gross registered tonnage and engine power in registered Kilowatts I think the guy who wrote that part doesn't know much about the workings of his own department, the two words in bold should give him a little hint

Out side of the costs it may not be a bad thing as anyone can go out on anything on the water at present with no real control and no legal requirement for even the most basic training or insurance, life jackets are the only legal requirement at present

I can also smell some sort of a stealth boat tax coming on does anyone else get that stench

John I think you are mis-reading the 2002 SI what that is stating is a vessel for hire / passenger boat that is under 4 meters and basically used on fresh water lakes or smooth waters for angling etc is exempt from a passenger boat licence once it meets the conditions of the exemption.

Yeah, I got that . It's not clear to me what the effect will be on recreational boat anglers, and ain't getting much clarity from the department either!