Principal Fisheries Officer

The Environment, Marine and Fisheries Group is within the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). The EMFG has three Divisions:
Natural Environment Policy Division, Environmental Resources Policy Division and Marine and Fisheries Division (MFD) and also includes Forest Service.

The main functions of the EMFG include:

- Developing and delivering policy and legislation to protect, conserve and enhance the environment (including land, air, freshwaters and marine waters);

- Developing and delivering policy and legislation and management to protect and ensure the sustainable use of our seas and inland fishery resources

EMFG consists of administrative, scientific and technical staff, based at Belfast (headquarters), Lisburn, Downpatrick and a number of regional locations.

• Maintaining high level of professional knowledge and understanding of the various policies and legislation which underpin and provide the vires for the work of the operational teams within the departments.
• Leading, providing advice and giving direction to enforcement teams responsible for control, compliance and enforcement of fisheries regulation stemming from all relevant legislation and in line with criminal investigation procedures.
• Leading a team of multi-disciplinary staff in processing a range of authorisations including permits/licences in line with the relevant legislation and monitoring of these to ensure compliance with relevant environmental legislation.
• Providing sound advice to the Minister and Senior Management and other authorities on the technical aspects of Sea Fisheries, Fish Health or Inland Fisheries matters.
• Leading their Branch in Windsor Framework Implementation, ensuring that the needs of their teams are met and maximising opportunities to streamline processes and procedures to meet the legislative, Departmental and customer needs.
• Ensuring accurate, robust data is collected by operational teams to sustain quality data input to the suite of IT systems supporting traceability, evidencing regulatory compliance and informing quota management.
• Leading, delivery and evaluation of the projects/programmes of regulatory work aimed at delivering significant business outcomes for MFD Regulation and Enforcement and also Departmental and PfG objectives.
• Overseeing operational standards and delivering business improvements to introduce change where required, facilitating best practice in regulation, demonstrating accountablity and meeting recommendations.
• Delivering a high quality public service, operational quality and reporting standards including management of the Public Angling Estate, Movanagher Fish Farm and the River Bush Salmon Station within the confines of budget and other resources.
• Developing and leading on conservation and protection programmes to protect wild fish stocks and putting in place all appropriate mitigation measures to meet national and international targets.
• Leading on and working in conjunction with veterinary expertise to ensure control measures are in place to prevent fish disease, leading on surveillance programmes and contingency planning.
• Developing close working relationships and networks with a range of stakeholders including, other Government departments and agencies in NI and GB, statutory advisory bodies and other NDPBs

• A degree in a relevant scientific discipline, defined as environmental science, biological sciences, marine science, fisheries science, geography or environmental management
• Or at least 5 years’ experience in the field of fisheries management
• At least 5 years’ management experience managing multi-disciplinary teams to deliver environmental outcomes in association with a range of external/internal stakeholders.
• Please refer to the Candidate Information Booklet.
• Should it be necessary to shortlist candidates, the Panel will carry out an objective evaluation of the depth and breadth of information provided by candidates in response to eligibility criterion 2.

NICS Application form only, Final date to receive applications Friday 2nd January 2026 at 12 noon.

Applications from females, young people (under…