DEADLINE day is approaching for fishermen to sign up for grants worth more than £1,000. 

Inshore fishing boat operators in Dorset are being urged to apply to the government for money which must be used for essential new monitoring equipment. 

New legislation is set to come in next year requiring fishing vessels less than 12 metres long to have a monitoring system onboard. 

The new tool will mean locations are always tracked while fishing in English waters for environmental, conservation and regulatory reasons. 

Failure to install the equipment could mean the risk of prosecution, substantial fines and boats being impounded. 

To help cover the cost of this new requirement, grant funding of up to £1,050 per vessel has been made available through the Marine Management Organisation. 

The deadline to apply for the grant is on November 30. 

Mark Ward, operations manager at Succorfish which is one of two manufacturers for the equipment, said: “Operators need only show that they’ve purchased the IVMS to qualify for the grant, rather than having to have it installed before they can make a claim, and the MMO has now streamlined the claims process to ensure grants are paid out within just a few working days. 

“The device is already in use in ports right across the UK, as well as in locations as far afield as Norway, Malta, the US, Australia and New Zealand, and the grants available through the MMO will more than cover the cost of operators buying it for their vessels. 

“The legal requirement to transmit data when a vessel is operating in English waters will definitely be in force early in the new year, and any operators that are found not to be complying with it will face a range of costly penalties, including potentially having their boats impounded. 

“We would therefore strongly urge any operators in Dorset that haven’t got this issue in hand to move on it as quickly as possible and to claim the financial support to which they’re entitled before it’s withdrawn.”