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for mortgages to be recorded.
Fishing boat owners who
need to establish title or record a mortgage may also
register under Part I of the Act on payment of the statutory
fee or under the Sea Fishing Boats (Scotland) Act 1886 (free)
if they are registered at a port in Scotland. The registered
tonnage of a fishing vessel is higher if it is registered
under Part I, where the Merchant Shipping (Tonnage)
Regulations 1982 apply, but not if registered under the 1886
Act, where the fishing vessel tonnage rules used under Part IV
continue to apply. The registered tonnage of a fishing vessel
can affect the qualifications required by the crew, whether
bonded goods can be carried, eligibility for grants, and where
the vessel can fish. Care has therefore been taken to ensure
that the setting up of a central register does not adversely
affect the economic interests of fishermen by requiring registered
tonnages to be altered in some cases. Nevertheless it is unsat-
isfactory that identical fishing vessels should have quite
different registered tonnages depending on the registration
regime and it is proposed at a later stage, after further
consultation with the fishing industry, to provide for a single
method for the calculation of tonnage for all sea fishing
vessels.
25. The central register of ships will be in two parts.
One part will be exclusively for sea fishing vessels fishing
for profit, (covering the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man as under the present system) and the other for all
i
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