Gov't to digitise renewal process for fishing licence

By Lorraine Mendez    

 

Following howls of complaint from fishers about the lengthy wait time for renewal of their fishing licence, the government has responded with a digitisation programme to be rolled out on Monday, February 5.

 

Fishers have complained that they have been fined as much as $350,000 after being caught with expired licenses. They told Radio Jamaica News earlier this month that sometimes it takes up to three months after making payment to receive their renewed licence.

 

But speaking at a press conference Wednesday morning, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Floyd Green said the government is implementing a programme to enhance the licensing and registration system. 

 

"We are moving from a completely manual process to a complete digitised process where we have already bought all the computing and networking equipment that are critical for establishing this system. We've already started our testing and we expect to go live on the 5th of February with a brand new digitised licensing and registration process," he announced. 

 

Mr. Green promised that under the new system, fishers should receive their new licences within a week of submitting an application online and making payment.

 

The project is being implemented by the National Fisheries Authority with support from the Transformation Implementation Unit in the Ministry of Finance.