Licencing and New Fishing Gear

Framework

Article 39 et seq. of Decree-Law No 73/2020, of 23 September, provides for the licensing of the fishing activity and the use of fish gear, whether in national territory, in third countries or on the high seas.

There are 2 types of licenses, assigned annually:

Licenses for vessels
Licenses for the harvest of marine animals and catch fishing.

Exceptional licenses revocable all the time may also be granted, when it comes to collecting of species for scientific purposes, including activities related to experimentation or restocking, provided that they are controlled by the fisheries administration and supervised by recognized scientific institutions.

Licensing is the responsibility of the DGRM except in the following cases:

Licensing for the operation of vessels registered in ports of the autonomous regions, as well as for the gear used by them, for the capture of resources that occur in waters under national jurisdiction covered by those regions
Licensing for fishing activities and their gear, without support of vessels, of resources occurring in waters covered in the respective Regions.

The following are also subject to specific licensing rules:

The surface longline fishery, which is directed for Swordfish, whose rules are provided for in Ordinance No 237/2022, of 14 september.
Directed fishing for deep-sea species, whose licensing criteria are set out in Regulation (EU) No 2016/2336 of 14 December, Ordinance No 10/2021, of 8 January, and Order No. 26/DG/2023, Being the designated ports provided for in Ordinance No 58/2014, of 7 of March. Order No. 5/DG/2023, establishes the vessels authorised for directed and bycatch fishing of deep-sea species, the updated list of vessels licensed for deep-sea fishing can be consulted here.
Fishing in the Recife do Algarve Marine Natural Park – Pedra do Valado (PNMRA-PV), was limited to vessels with a specific license, in accordance with the attribution criteria set out in Order No. 2182/2024 of February 27 and can be consulted here.

Professional Fishing Licensing

The renewal of fishing licenses is a process initiated at the DGRM's initiative and is intended to maintain the situation of the last license of the previous year. No changes are contemplated, which should continue to be required by interested parties. The renewal of fishing licenses shall always be granted, unless express rejection of the DGRM to inform the applicant and the captaincy of the port of registry by 30^th November of each year.

This renewal is dependent on the verification of minimum fishing activity during the 12 months prior to the license application through the results of sale of fish registered in auction (Docapesca). When not making sales in Portuguese ports, it should justify the fulfilment of the Economic Link with Portugal (Decree-Law No. 525/99 of 10^th December), since only those registered in Docapesca are validated for this purpose.

If, for any exceptional reason, you have not engaged in fishing or harvest activities regularly between July of the previous year and June of the current year, you should justify the reduced activity (due to the repair of the vessel or the owner's disease, duly documented or due to change of owner), after receiving notice of the intention to refuse, under penalty of your fishing license may not be renewed.

As from 2020, only vessels which have no activity other than seasonal activity will be able to benefit from the reduction of the minimum sales required, so if you do not carry out an annual activity, you should suspend the fishing permits in good time.

Granting of new fishing gear

Online service for request vessels - New gear

Online service for request vessels - Giving gears to others

Online service for request vessel - Exchage of gears

Licenses for catchers of marine animals and catch fishermen

Online service for request ANI - Support vessel alteration

Online service for request ANI - License as catcher alteration

Online service for request ANI - Register as catcher

Online service for request ANI - Register as majoeira catcher (Request between 1 of June and 31 of July)

Online service for request ANI - Renewal as majoeira catcher (Request between 1 of June and 31 of July)

Online service for request ANI - Exchange of utensils for catchers

Online service for request ANI - Licensing at PNSACV and RNB (PNSACV - Request between 1 and 31 of August, RNB – Request until 31 of August)

Online service for request fishing sector - Licensing for seaweed harvesting

WARNING: The change of address to a location that is not in the same area of jurisdiction as the Captaincy where you are currently licensed implies the cancellation of the harvesting license since, according to article 6 of Ordinance No.1228/2010, of 6 December, which approves the Harvest Regulation, “harvesting for commercial purposes can only be carried out in the captaincy of the license holder's area of residence and in neighboring captaincies”. In this situation, you should ask DGRM, through Bmar, to transfer the new area of residence Captaincy, which is subject to the availability of a vacancy according to the list published on this page.

Licenses for fishing vessels

Online service for request vessels - Emission of first licence

Online service for request fishing sector - Restart activity

Online service for request fishing sector - Suspension of activity

Online service for requesting - Authorization for experimental fishing - Raia Curva

Find out ANIs 2020 vacancies by consulting here

Useful information for catchers marine animals in early activity
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