Guidance

Regional Fisheries Groups - South West 7efg

The region covers Worth Matravers/Saint Alban's Head around coast of Cornwall, to Bristol. This includes the Isles of Scilly.

From:
Marine Management Organisation
Published
26 July 2022
Last updated
2726 FebruaryApril 2023 — See all updates

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Current projects:

  • Small eyed ray project aiming to remove the non retention policy in 7e.
  • Lyme Bay investigation into the level of fishing in Lyme Bay.

Date of next meeting:

Date of next meetingmeeting: isTuesday, 16 May 2023: 4pm to be6pm. confirmed.The Itmeeting iswill provisionallybe setonline forvia MayMS 2023.Teams. Please contact regionalfisheriesgroups@marinemanagement.org.uk to request the invite link.

Lyme Bay Sole Fishery

Lyme Bay Code of Conduct

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has responded to concerns from fishermen that an increase in sole quota has led to conflict and potentially overfishing in Lyme Bay.

The MMO and Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authorities (IFCA) have been investigating the meantime.issue and have created a steering group to oversee the investigation. The Steering group includes representative fishers from the Lyme Bay Community Interest Company, and other ports outside of Lyme Bay, as well as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), IFCA, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture (Cefas) and MMO representatives.

At a recent steering group meeting, a best practice Code of Conduct for sole fishing with gill nets in Lyme Bay was agreed as follows. Lyme Bay is defined as the area inside a line from Beer Head to Portland.

  1. A minimum mesh size 5 inches (127mm) for gill nets targeting sole.
  2. All fixed nets should be marked with a buoy showing the PLN of the vessel at both ends of the net.
  3. Flags and radar reflectors are used where possible and practical to mark the location of nets.

Note: That these are best practice recommendations and not law.

The first recommendation is to support the sole population by letting smaller soles increase their opportunity to breed. The second is to help prevent gear conflict by increasing the visibility of net locations to prevent them being caught up in trawl gear, and so that other netting vessels can avoid setting nets that cross over nets already set in the water.

The MMO is working with Cefas and other organisations to develop a scientific investigation into what impact increased fishing in Lyme Bay may be having on sole populations, the marine environment, and the potential socio-economic impacts on fishers. This work involves the use of MMO data from logbooks, the Catch App and from observers at sea and in fish markets, to analyse catches made by different vessels as well as other possible work to look at the wider sole population.

Successes in the South West 7efg:

1. Small eyed ray (RJE) investigation to explore removal of 7e non-retention

This was the first project to come from the RFGs. Inshore fishers in the Southwest Regional Fisheries Group raised the local abundance of small-eyed ray in area 7.e and the rationale behind the non-retention policy in 7.e when it can be retained in 7.f-g. The non-retention policy is the result of a political decision at EU level, it was not based on ICES advice.

The MMO commissioned Cefas to carry out a study, this was paid for by MMO evidence team. The study highlighted that there is no evidence of decline in the stock, distribution is patchy as is trawl survey data due to its preferred habitat. Small-eyed ray is not a significant stock nationally or financially but could be significant to coastal communities in the southwest particularly inshore fishers.

Currently the Defra negotiations team are taking this to the EU at the annual negotiations in December 2022 with the hope of getting an allowance. We will keep the group updated.

2. Grants FaSS match rates on Health & Safety funding

The NW RFG raised the disparity between the amount for grant funding available for bottom towed gear and other gear types.

The Defra FaSS team bought a paper to the board asking for the match-funding rates of fishing vessels which are classed as micro entities to be raised to 80% for Health & Safety projects regardless of the type of fishing gear used. This would bring them in line with the rate available to small-scale coastal fishers (SSCF).

Following discussions within this group and with the HM Treasury, the change has been approved: match-funding rates for any vessel with a length of 12m or less will be raised to 80% for Health & Safety projects, regardless of the type of gear used.

3. Additional Quota 2021 round

Additional Quota was made available from the MMO at the end of 2021. The one-time offer meant a small amount of the additional quota England received from the Trade and Cooperation Agreement was distributed via selected Producer Organisations (PO) without cost to the U10m vessel or benefit to the PO. It enabled capped vessels to fish above their annual 350kg limit for quota stocks before January 1 2022.

4. Additional Quota 2022 round

A similar scheme took place again in 2022 starting earlier in the year.

Temporary lift of the under-10m licence cap from 1 August 2022.

The cap on some under-10m vessels which restricts their uptake to no more than 350kg per year of quota stocks was temporarily lifted for the remainder of 2022. This is being done to facilitate uptake of available quota and as an exercise to make an initial test for any unexpected consequences of lifting the cap more permanently.

Offer of additional quota to vessels with Category B and C licences.

The MMO opened a window for vessels with Category B & C licences to apply for access to additional quota. Over 10m vessels with Category B or C licences have a limited number of quota stocks for which they can fish. Under this scheme, these vessels can apply for access to more opportunities for the remainder of 2022.

It enabled vessels with Non-Sector Category B or C licences to fish above their current limits for quota stocks before 1 January 2023.

Meeting notes:

Collaborative Science:

Quota Presentations:

Lyme Bay Code of Conduct

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has responded to concerns from fishermen that an increase in sole quota has led to conflict and potentially overfishing in Lyme Bay.

The MMO and Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authorities (IFCA) have been investigating the issue and have created a steering group to oversee the investigation. The Steering group includes representative fishers from the Lyme Bay Community Interest Company, and other ports outside of Lyme Bay, as well as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), IFCA, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture (Cefas) and MMO representatives.

At a recent steering group meeting, a best practice Code of Conduct for sole fishing with gill nets in Lyme Bay was agreed as follows. Lyme Bay is defined as the area inside a line from Beer Head to Portland.

  1. A minimum mesh size 5 inches (127mm) for gill nets targeting sole.
  2. All fixed nets should be marked with a buoy showing the PLN of the vessel at both ends of the net.
  3. Flags and radar reflectors are used where possible and practical to mark the location of nets.

Note: That these are best practice recommendations and not law.

The first recommendation is to support the sole population by letting smaller soles increase their opportunity to breed. The second is to help prevent gear conflict by increasing the visibility of net locations to prevent them being caught up in trawl gear, and so that other netting vessels can avoid setting nets that cross over nets already set in the water.

The MMO is working with Cefas and other organisations to develop a scientific investigation into what impact increased fishing in Lyme Bay may be having on sole populations, the marine environment, and the potential socio-economic impacts on fishers. This work involves the use of MMO data from logbooks, the Catch App and from observers at sea and in fish markets, to analyse catches made by different vessels as well as other possible work to look at the wider sole population.

Published 26 July 2022
Last updated 2726 FebruaryApril 2023 + show all updates

  1. 26 April 2023 update.

  2. Feb update

  3. RFG update

  4. Successes added

  5. New date

  6. Code of conduct update

  7. First published.

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