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Written Question
Fishing Gear
Thursday 3rd July 2014

Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inshore fisheries and conservation authorities in England have bylaws to prohibit the setting of intertidal nets; and how many land-based officers in each authority police and enforce those bylaws.

Answered by George Eustice

Most Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) in England have byelaws which affect net fishing activities in the intertidal zone. These byelaws vary between IFCAs, with each Authority prescribing certain net specifications, geographic areas, time restrictions and other limitations. Details of each IFCA's byelaws can be found on their respective websites.

The IFCAs with byelaws relating to intertidal nets are:

· Cornwall IFCA

· Devon and Severn IFCA

· Eastern IFCA

· Kent and Essex IFCA

· North Eastern IFCA

· North West IFCA

· Northumberland IFCA

· Southern IFCA

· Sussex IFCA

Isles of Scilly IFCA is the only Authority not to have any byelaws relating to intertidal nets, as this is not a fishing activity that takes place in the Isles of Scilly.

Most IFCAs have enforcement officers based both on land and at sea. These officers enforce all byelaws, not specifically those concerning intertidal nets. The latest figures held by Defra are:

Cornwall IFCA: 12 officers

Devon and Severn IFCA: 8 officers

Eastern IFCA: 10 officers, 3 land based

Kent and Essex IFCA: 2 land based officers, 6 sea based officers

North Eastern IFCA: 6 officers, 2 dedicated land based

North West IFCA: 8 mostly land based officers

Northumberland IFCA: 8 officers and 1 part time

Southern IFCA: 10 officers

Sussex IFCA: 4 officers

Written Question
Fishing Gear
Thursday 3rd July 2014

Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have been prosecuted for setting intertidal nets in England in each of the last three years.

Answered by George Eustice

Prosecutions for setting intertidal nets in England are undertaken, for the most part, by the Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authorities (IFCAs). The ten IFCAs manage sea fisheries resources to six nautical miles around the English coast.

· In 2011, North Eastern IFCA made one prosecution relating to intertidal nets and Cornwall IFCA had one case where a prosecution was commenced alongside another, potentially more serious, non-fisheries offence.

· In 2012 there were no prosecutions.

· In 2013, North Eastern IFCA made two prosecutions.

· To date in 2014, there are two cases under investigation by Cornwall IFCA,

one case under investigation by North Eastern IFCA, and three pending cases with Southern IFCA. These cases will not necessarily result in a prosecution in a court.

In all of these years there will be cases where warnings or cautions were issued or seizures were made instead of formal prosecutions.

Environment Agency records indicate that 12 people have been prosecuted in the past three years for setting an intertidal net which targeted or caught salmon or sea trout for which they did not have an Environment Agency licence to do so in England.

The River Tweed Commission (RTC) has its own legislation to control netting both in England and in Scotland which is included in The Scotland Act 1998 (River Tweed) Order 2006. In England, the RTC took seven prosecutions relating to intertidal nets in 2011, five prosecutions in 2012, and five prosecutions in 2013.

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