The wash cockle and Mussel Byelaw 2021 has finally been confirmed by Defra.
It replaces the 30- year Wash Fishery Order which expired in January 2023, the fishery having been under interim management arrangements since then.
The byelaw, which will come into effect on 1 May, introduces a permit system, prefaced by an eligibility requirement, with a maximum of 63 vessels to work the fishery. Those eligible to hold a permit were notified back in 2023.
An annual eligibility fee of £757.75 must be paid by 30 March each year, with permits to run from 1 April, although for this first year which starts a month later, the fee is reduced to £694.60.
Applications for permits for this first year need to be made to Eastern IFCA (EIFCA) by 1 April, but for subsequent years, by 1 February each year. Application forms were being posted out to prospective permit holders in early March.
Annual permit fees will be £339.57 for hand-worked cockle fishing; £101.39 for hand-working mussels and £162.48 for mussel dredging. The cockle fishery normally opens in June, but the Wash mussel fishery has been moribund since the UK left the EU, because the bulk of the catch went to Europe, particularly France and, with depuration now required as a condition of export, the sums don’t add up.
One condition for eligibility under the new regime is that permit holders complete a Wash Training Course, to be held on various dates through April this year – but as most likely applicants will have been fishing the Wash for decades, that presumably won’t be too big an obstacle.
But the byelaw’s confirmation comes after several years of trenchant opposition by the industry which contends, among other things, that being reviewable every six years, but potentially more often, it offers far less security for business planning than the Wash Fishery Order. The industry petitioned long and hard for another fishery order, which is the course being taken by Kent and Essex IFCA for the Thames cockle fishery. With the Wash mussel fishery no longer viable, and the centuries-old shrimp fishery facing creeping constriction by environmental considerations and the precautionary principle, it views the byelaw’s confirmation as a major defeat.
Chair of EIFCA Councillor Tom FitzPatrick said: “The authority acknowledges the concerns that Wash fishers had about the replacement of the Wash Fishery Order with a byelaw. Importantly, the development of the byelaw and associated policy was strongly influenced by close liaison with professional representatives appointed by the fishing industry and extensive public consultations.
“The outcome is a fairer system for fishers that addresses the widely acknowledged flaws of the old order whilst continuing to provide surety for the fishing industry. It will also enable the authority to manage the fisheries effectively in the long term.”
Time will tell – though how much time remains for the Wash fishery as a whole is itself debatable.
This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.50 here.
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