The zone change message
The zone change message can be made by clicking the tab “Zone Change”. Doing so opens a screen where a few fields must be filled out on this screen. Every time you cross a zone (ICES division), you have to send in two messages. The zone which you are leaving and the zone which you are about to enter. The timing of sending the messages is crucial when fishing in Norwegian waters. (See the chapter regarding Norway).
The date, time, longitude and latitude can be filled out manually, or by clicking on the GPS button.
On the left side of the overview you have to fill in the values of the zone you are about to enter and on the right side the values of the zone you are leaving. When leaving or entering an effort zone, you have to choose a value from the drop down box. When an effort zone does need to be chosen you can leave this value blank. When entering or leaving the Norwegian waters, choose ‘K Norway‘, as effort zone.
The screen below gives an example of entering zone VIIF en leaving zone VIIE.
When “export” is clicked the communications screen will open and two zone change messages are set to be sent. One message informing which zone you are leaving and one message informing which zone you are entering.
You can click on “send/receive” to send the messages.
Note: Prior to sending your zone change message you need to send in a “FAR” with the catches you’ve made in that zone.
