D&S IFCA completes all the necessary installations of 35 REWIRE devices on affected mobile fishing gear vessels for an estimated cost of £7,100
Vessel Monitoring – The Issues:
As reported previously, on 12th August 2025, Succorfish, one of the two remaining suppliers of national type approved IVMS devices, stopped sending data to the UK VMS Hub. On 3rd December 2025, the MMO confirmed to Officers that the matter with Succorfish remained unresolved.
Although not the fault of fishers, the ongoing situation involving Succorfish and data not being forwarded to the UK VMS Hub has resulted in many fishers’ operating mobile fishing gear vessels whist not being compliant with D&S IFCA’s Permit Conditions. As an interim measure, on 12th August, D&S IFCA informed affected vessel owners that affected vessels could continue fishing whist attempts were made to address the situation.
D&S IFCA Officers, and the Members of the Authority recognised that the issue needed urgent attention as, unless suitably addressed in a timely way, this situation would compromise D&S IFCA’s ability to view vessel tracking data on 35 active mobile fishing vessels, adding significant risks to the protection of the Marine Protected Area network.
Action
At the D&S IFCA Authority meeting on 18th September 2025, Members agreed to allocate funding from D&S IFCA’s General Reserves to install REWIRE IVMS devices on those mobile gear vessels with Succorfish devices that continued to fish in D&S IFCA’s District. The package also included up to six months’ worth of airtime for the transmission of data.
With the support of Tecmarine-UK, and the owners of the mobile fishing vessels, the necessary installations of 35 REWIRE devices are now complete.
A Low Cost Solution with Additional Benefits
The total cost is estimated to have been £7,100. The owners of some vessels, originally earmarked for installations, indicated that the vessels were not currently fishing in the District. The owners will continue be offered the opportunity to have a REWIRE device fitted if the issues with Succorfish continue beyond when they wish to resume fishing in the District.
D&S IFCA is committed to the use of technology to help manage fisheries within its District and was actively involved in the development of a National IFCA Strategy for Remote Electronic Monitoring & Artificial Intelligence. The National Strategy, supported by Defra, was agreed and formally adopted by the Association of IFCAs at a meeting held on 2nd December 2025. The Strategy is designed to help inform and support the delivery of national ambitions set out in the Joint Fisheries Statement.
Chief Officer, Mat Mander said:
“I am delighted with how well D&S IFCA has worked so effectively with Techmarine-UK administration team and their engineers. The engineers have visited different locations around the District, and beyond, to install the devices on the fishing vessels. Vessel owners have helped significantly by engaging with Techmarine-UK and making their vessels available for the installation on agreed dates, even though some fishers undoubtedly lost some fishing time being alongside whilst the engineers were aboard the vessels.
A longer term positive for D&S IFCA and vessel owners is that the REWIRE devices are compatible with REM (an integrated system using an array of electronic equipment, such as gear sensors and video cameras for vessel monitoring), that D&S IFCA has been trialling since 2022 on up to seven mobile fishing gear vessels.
I have been informed that D&S IFCA’s new Mobile Fishing Permit Byelaw 2022 may be confirmed by the Secretary of State this month. When the new byelaw is confirmed, it includes the necessary provisions to enable REM to be considered as a future requirement to fish with mobile fishing gear in the District.”
Questions
If you have any questions about the successful roll out of the REWIRE devices, or D&S IFCA’s future plans involving REM please contact D&S IFCA’s Chief Officer, Mat Mander.
M.Mander@devonandsevernifca.gov.uk – 01803 854648 or 07515 050888