The Administrative Unit objectives include:

• Employees are properly compensated for work done via salaries, subsistence and allowances.
• Ensure that staff adheres to their conditions of service such as reporting sick leaves, vacation leaves, and maternity leaves.
• To provide a conducive working environment to increase staff productivity and to create a forum for the effortlessness exchange of information.
• To keep staff aware and familiar with their conditions of service.

• Licensing: the licensing department is responsible for the issuance of different types of licenses that the department administers. These include sea cucumber, fisherfolk, vessel, shark fin, seafood permit, renewal and replacement of lost license, black coral and aquarium collector.
• Inventory Management: the inventory clerk provides a list of tangible items that the government purchases for the effective running of the department such as vehicle care and the issuance of gas vouchers among others.
• Clerical: the secretary is responsible for the employee registry, directing incoming calls, making outgoing calls as well as directing public inquiries to the appropriate unit.
• Human Resource Management: the administrative assistant is responsible for keep employees up to date on their conditions of service; sick leave and vacation leave request, salary and allowances, performance management system, code of conduct of employees, disaster preparedness as well as health safety and welfare.
• Accounts: the account section is responsible for administering the department’s accounts, the payment of expenses incurred by the department, response to changes in salary and employee’s bank information, ensuring that subsistence and increment are paid. The accounts section is also responsible for purchases made by the department, as well as funds given for operational expenses such as structural repairs of the Fisheries Headquarters as well as maintenance of marine reserve buildings and the issuance of sundries to the reserve staff.

Fisherfolk licenses are issued to fishermen who wish to engage in fishing of fin fish, conch and lobster. The cost for both the first issuance and renewal of fisherfolk license is $25, while the replacement of a lost card is at $10.

The Licensing section also provides licenses for vessels, which are registered based on size. For vessels greater than 20’ the cost to license is $25, while for vessels under 20’ the cost is $15.

The department also administers CITIES seafood permit for the export of various sea food products from Belize for both trade and personal use.

The administrative unit of the Fisheries department also various other licenses that utilize the aquatic resources of Belize such as black coral, aquarium collectors and research permit.

Belizean

• Applicant Must Be 18 years or older and
• Present a valid Social Security card or
• Voters Identification Card along with a Birth Certificate or
• Valid passport

Naturalize Belizean

• Applicant Must Be 18 years or older and
• Present a Nationality Certificate and a valid Social Security card or
• Valid passport

Permanent Resident

• Applicant Must Be 18 years or older and
• Present Residence Stamp on Valid Passport and
• Present a valid Social Security card

All Applicants must present the following

• Proof of residency (copy of one utility bill: Electricity. Water or Telephone) and
• Proof of sale in Belize (Receipt of sale of fishery products from fishermen cooperative, restaurant, hotel etc.)

If no utility bill is available then the applicant is required to present the three (3) months rental receipt and, an affidavit or letter from the landlord stating that the applicant is residing at his/her residence for the last three (3) months and this must be signed by a justice of the peace.

• Owner or master of the vessel must have a valid commercial fisher folk license.
• Vessel must have a valid sea worthy certificate issued by the Belize Port Authority

The fisherman must present a police report receipt from the Police Department stating the loss of the licenses (Commercial Fisher folk or boat).

• The persons full name
• Date the person is leaving
• Amount of sea food they are taking

The permit only allows you a maximum of 20 pounds of sea food combined and it is only valid for seven (7) days.

Persons taking conch will need to provide their address here in Belize and their home address.