Wales Vessel Monitoring Scheme 2025 (WVMS): rules booklet

The Wales Vessel Monitoring Scheme will provide financial support to the Welsh fishing industry to individually purchase an Inshore vessel monitoring system (iVMS) device. 

Financial support will fund a single purchase of an inshore vessel monitoring device for each eligible vessel.

Legislation came into force in Wales in 2022 through The Sea Fishing Operations (Monitoring Devices) (Wales) Order 2022, which makes it a requirement for all commercial fishing vessels under 12m in length, operating in the Welsh zone, or Welsh fishers wherever they may be, to have an iVMS device installed and operating when they undertake fishing activities.

These Guidance Notes explain The Wales Vessel Monitoring Scheme. Please read these notes carefully.

If you consider yourself eligible and want to apply for support, please read the ‘How to Apply Section’ of this Guidance Note and the accompanying guidance entitled Using RPW Online to Apply which will be published on the Welsh Government website.

The aim of this scheme is to provide financial support to the Welsh fishing industry to individually purchase an iVMS monitoring device for each eligible vessel that you own or part own.

The application window will 30^th January 2025 and will close on 27^th February 2025.

Any changes to the scheme rules/guidance will be publicised via the Welsh Government website and where necessary, we will contact you directly.

You are eligible to apply if:

• you are the owner or part owner of an under 12m vessel which is registered on the UK fishing fleet register to a port in Wales and is administered and licensed by the Welsh Government on the date of application
• funding has not already been awarded under this scheme for the specific vessel. Only one award is permitted per eligible vessel

You are not eligible if you:

• have been convicted of fraud under any other grant scheme
• have been found to have committed a serious violation of conservation or management measures within the preceding 12 months
• have been convicted of an offence considered to be a ‘serious infringement’ (including any illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing or fraud), in the 12 months before applying
• operate a vessel listed for engaging in IUU fishing by the UK; a Regional Fisheries Management Organization or Arrangement (RFMO/A); or has been notified for engaging in IUU fishing under the WTO Agreement on Fishing Subsidies

Eligible costs

The funding will be capped at £800 inc vat and will cover the cost of iVMS device purchased from suppliers who have: 

• successfully completed integration to the UK VMS hub 

  and; 

• the iVMS device meets the requirements set out in The Sea Fishing Operations (Monitoring Devices) (Wales) Order 2022.

 There are currently two suppliers and two types of iVMS devices:

• Nemo – provided by CLS UK, formally known as Fulcrum Maritime Systems Ltd
• SC2 – provided by Succorfish Ltd

We will pay the lower value of either the approved standard cost or the actual price as shown on the receipt of purchase provided with your claim.

Ineligible costs

• the purchase of second-hand items is not permitted
• airtime associated with the IVMS device
• installation
• future repair or replacement of any IVMS device

Maximum rate

The maximum grant award is £800 inclusive of VAT.

The device must be purchased, installed and confirmed as transmitting correctly to the UK VMS hub and claims submitted with full evidence to include:

• provision of an invoice, 
• proof of payment (evidence of payment from your bank account to the supplier) by the date provided in your Grant Award offer.

The Grants Team will initiate checks to confirm that the device has been installed to the specified vessel and is operational within 90 calendar days of payment of any grant funding. If the device has not been fitted and no suitable explanation has been provided, then recovery proceedings may be initiated.

The applicant must be the owner of an under 12m vessel which must be registered on the UK fishing fleet register to a port in Wales and the vessel must be administered and licensed by the Welsh Government on the date of application. 

The applicant must agree to dispose of the old device as instructed by Welsh Government.

RPW Online

Applications will be made through RPW Online. In order to submit an application, you must be registered with the Welsh Government and have been issued with a Customer Reference Number (CRN). Please refer to the Welsh Government website for the how to register guidance or call the RPW Customer Contact Centre on 0300 062 5004.

If your application is successful you will be issued with a Grant Award offer via your RPW Online account.

On receipt of your Grant Award offer letter, you must accept it within 30 calendar days of the contract Grant Award offer letter issue date. If you do not accept the contract Grant Award offer within 30 calendar days, the contract offer of Grant Award will be withdrawn.

Once you have been issued with your Grant Award offer letter, if successful, you must purchase the approved iVMS device within 60 calendar days and submit a claim via your RPW Online account within 120 calendar days from the Grant Award offer letter issue date.  Full details of when your Grant Award offer must be accepted, and when the iVMS device must be purchased and claimed for, will be in the Grant Award offer letter.

You must not claim for any items purchased before 19 December 2024 

Subject to the requirements of the Welsh Government’s Code of Practice on

Public Access to Information, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the

Environmental Information Regulations 2004: All information given to the Welsh Government will be treated in strict confidence. You should be aware that if successful, the Welsh Government and the UK Government have the right to publish the name of your company, the amount of grant you were awarded and a summary of your investment.

There are two possible outcomes:

1. Your application is not eligible for the grant. A letter will be issued to you setting out the reasons why your application was rejected.
2. Your application is eligible and is approved for an award. A Grant Award offer letter will be issued to you online, setting out the terms and conditions of the award. You will be asked to accept the Grant Award as agreement to the terms and conditions therein.

You must meet any legal obligations imposed by UK law.

The offer of this grant is made subject to terms and conditions, including but not limited to those set out below. Failure to meet the terms and conditions of the award could result in the cancellation of your award and/ or the recovery of sums already paid, or a reduction of the amount of grant payable.

Conditions:

1. Acceptance of the awarded must be made within thirty (30) calendar days of the date on which your Grant Award offer letter is issued online.
2. The Grant Award offer is made on the basis of statements made by you or your representatives in the application and subsequent online correspondence. The making of false or misleading statements is an offence. 
3. You must not purchase any items applied for before the 19 December 2024.
4. You MUST make a separate claim for each eligible vessel.
5. You are responsible for ensuring the iVMS device which is the subject of this application, is technically viable, complies with all relevant health and safety legislation and any other project specific safety requirements.
6. Claims must be submitted in the correct format and accompanied by all necessary documentation. If not, they will not be accepted and will be returned to the claimant.
7. You confirm that none of the items covered by the application are replacements under an insurance claim.
8. If asked, you must provide confirmation that no other public funding (whether from EU or UK sources) has been sought.
9. Any publicity given to the investment must make reference to the part played by Welsh Government in funding it.
10.  On request, you must provide them with information and / or access to original documentation in relation to the investment.
11. The information provided in the application and any supporting documentation is subject to the requirements of the Welsh Government’s Code of Practice on Public Access to Information, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
12. If successful, Welsh Government reserve the right to publish the name of your business or company, the amount of grant you were awarded and a summary of your investment.
13. The information provided in the application is subject to the Privacy Notice. The Privacy Notice explains the Welsh Government’s processing and use of your personal data and your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Claims

Guidance notes on how to claim will be issued when the award is confirmed and subsequently the claim is invited. Claims will only be paid when the Welsh Government is satisfied the relevant expenditure has taken place.  Payment will be made by electronic transfer to your bank account.

The item must be purchased on or after the 19 December 2024. 

You must submit your claim via your RPW online account within 120 calendar days of the date the award is issued.

Provide evidence of disposal of the allocated AST device provided by Welsh Government previously, where applicable, as instructed by Welsh Government 

During the lifetime of the grant, when claims are submitted, they may be scrutinised to ensure expenditure is eligible and in line with that approved in the original application.

Incorrect claims

You have a responsibility to make sure that the claim is submitted on time.

If the claim is incorrect then your claim will be reduced to the amount that is eligible and the grant to be paid will be calculated accordingly.

If you have any doubts about the eligibility of any expenditure you must check before you incur the costs.

Controls

The Welsh Government must enforce the Wales Vessel Monitoring Scheme rules.

All the details in your application, the details in your claim and the declarations that you made in submitting the application and claim will be checked.

Monitoring and evaluation

It is a requirement that all grant awards are monitored and the effect of the grant on the business is evaluated following completion.

You must co-operate with any post-implementation evaluation of your project and the scheme as a whole.

Record keeping

You must keep all records and information you need to evidence that you have provided complete and accurate information and have complied with your undertakings for six years.

You will also be required to:

• supply to the Welsh Government any information about your Grant Award and supply that information within the period determined by the Welsh Government
• make available to the Welsh Government, its authorised persons or its agents, records, accounts, receipts and other information including access to computer data relating to your Grant Award
• permit the Welsh Government to remove any such document or record to take copies or extracts from them

Appeals procedure

There are no grounds for appeal if your application is rejected.

Special circumstances or disagreement with any aspect of the scheme’s eligibility criteria will not be grounds for appeal.

Should you wish to appeal a decision in relation to your claim, then appeals including supporting evidence, must be submitted via RPW Online within 60 days of the date of the letter outlining the decision you wish to appeal against.

An appeal officer/s independent of the original decision will consider the appeal. The appeal officer/s will then make a final decision and notify the appellant together with the reasons for that decision.

Complaints procedure

Complaints will be dealt with under the Welsh Government’s procedure on Complaints. Further advice on how to make a complaint can be obtained from the Complaints Advice Team:

Welsh Government
Crown Buildings
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Tel: 03000 251378

E-mail: complaints@gov.wales

Website: Complaints about Welsh Government

You may also choose to contact the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales:

1 Ffordd yr Hen Gae
Pencoed,
CF35 5LJ

Tel: 0300 790 0203

Website: Ombudsman

How we will handle any personal data you provide in relation to your grant application or request for grant funding

The Welsh Government provides a wide range of grant schemes to help deliver our policies and create a fairer, more prosperous Wales.

The Welsh Government will be data controller for any personal data you provide in relation to your grant application or request for funding. The information will be processed as part of our public task (i.e. exercising our official authority to undertake the core role and functions of the Welsh Government) and will help us assess your eligibility for funding and administer the grant.

Before we provide funding to you, we undertake checks for the purposes of preventing fraud and money laundering, and to verify your identity. These checks require us to process personal data about you to third party fraud prevention agencies.

If we, or a fraud prevention agency, determine that you pose a fraud or money laundering risk, we may refuse to provide the grant funding you applied for, or we may stop providing existing funding to you.

A record of any fraud or money laundering risk will be retained by the fraud prevention agencies, and may result in others refusing to provide services, financing or employment to you.

In order to assess eligibility, we may also need to share personal information relating to your application with:

• Natural Resources Wales
• Animal and Plant Health Agency
• Veterinary Medicine Directorate
• Welsh Local Authorities
• Food Standards Agency Wales
• DEFRA
• Marine Management Organisation (MMO)
• Other UK Government Marine and Fisheries Administrations
• Maritime and Coastguard Agency
• Regulatory authorities, such as HM Revenue and Customs, Local Authorities, Health and Safety Executive and the Police.

The Welsh Government may publish details of grant recipients, amounts and business name on a transparency register where we are obliged to do so, for example, under the Control Act 2022.

We will keep personal information contained in files in line with our retention policy. If successful in your application, then your personal data will be kept for seven years after the date when you, as grant recipient, are free from all conditions relating to the grant awarded and all payment have been made. If you are unsuccessful your details will be kept for one year after the date you provided them.

Under the data protection legislation, you have the right:

• to access the personal data the Welsh Government holds on you
• to require us to rectify inaccuracies in that data
• to (in certain circumstances) object to or restrict processing
• for (in certain circumstances) your data to be ‘erased’
• to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who is the independent regulator for data protection.

Should you have any queries regarding this privacy statement please contact the RPW Customer Contact Centre.

Or if you would like further details about the information the Welsh Government holds and its use, or if you want to exercise your rights under the GDPR, please see contact details below:

Data Protection Officer
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
CARDIFF
CF10 3NQ

Email: dataprotectionofficer@gov.wales

The contact details for the Information Commissioner’s Office are:

2nd Floor, Churchill House
Churchill Way
Cardiff
CF10 2HH

Telephone: 0330 414 6421 Website: https://ico.org.uk/

The Sea Fishing Operations (Monitoring Devices) (Wales) Order 2022 came in to force on 15 February 2022. The order was introduced to enable a full and accurate picture of fishing vessel activity in the Welsh zone, and for Welsh registered vessels wherever they may be, to improve fisheries and marine environment management.

Control and Transparency Reporting Requirements

The Subsidy Control Act 2022 defines what a subsidy is and the rules which the payment of subsidies by public authorities must comply.

Your details may be published on a register of public funding recipients if the funding meets the criteria for public disclosure.

The UK is expected to ratify the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies and that this will become binding on WTO members. The new agreement prohibits subsidies for fishing or fishing related activities^[1] relating to an overfished stock unless the funding or other measures are implemented to rebuild the stock to a biologically sustainable level.

[1] Fishing related activities include “any operation in support of, or in preparation for, fishing, including the landing, packaging, processing, transshipping, or transporting of fish that have not been previously landed at port, as well as the provisioning of personnel, fuel, gear, and other supplies at sea.”

Enquiries – Customer Contact Centre

For all enquiries, please contact the RPW Customer Contact Centre

Enquiries can be submitted via RPW Online at any time.

Access to Welsh Government offices for people with disabilities or special needs

If you have any special needs which you feel are not met by our facilities, contact the Customer Contact Centre on 0300 062 5004. Welsh Government officials will then endeavour to make arrangements to accommodate your requirements.

Welsh Government website

For all of the latest Marine and Fisheries information, visit the Welsh Government’s website.