Parlour pots – Crabs and lobsters
No person shall use or cause to be used for the purposes of fishing for sea fish any parlour pot of whatever material
constructed, unless it has at least one unobstructed escape gap per parlour. Any escape gap must:
(a) be located in
the exterior wall of the parlour(s) (b) be so designed and constructed and of sufficient size that there may be easily
passed through it a rigid box shaped gauge which measure 84 millimetres wide by 46 millimetres high and 100 millimetres long,
and (c)
be fitted in such a way that the longitudinal axis is parallel to the base of the pot and is located in the lowest
part of the parlour(s) as is practically possible and in all cases must be within 100 millimetres of the base.
No persons shall
use or cause to be used for the purposes of fishing for sea fish any parlour pot unless the door, hinge or clasp fitted to
the door of each bait parlour is fitted to the port by rubber, metal or similar natural material that will, under working
conditions, require replacement annually.
Marking pots and traps
Marker buoys and similar objects floating on the surface and intended to indicate the location
of fishing pots and traps shall be clearly marked at all times with the letters and numbers of the vessel to which they belong
or the owners name and address.
It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this byelaw
founded on a contravention of, or failure to comply with, any provision of article 1 or 2 of Commission Regulation No. 1381/87
to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.
Berried lobsters
No person shall remove from a fishery any berried lobster.
Mussel
Dredge (a) No person or vessel shall tow or operate any dredge or dredges
with an aggregate width of blade, front edge or opening that exceeds 2 metres when fishing for or retaining any mussels.
This shall not apply when a person is operating under consent granted for the collection of seed mussels under the Committee’s
Mussel Minimum Size byelaw.
(b)
Dredges not being towed or operated, that exceed the requirement above shall be disconnected
from their towing or hauling wires or ropes, lashed and stowed in a manner that they cannot easily be deployed.
(c) No person shall continue
to operate any dredge or fishing instrument for the purpose of taking mussels if representative samples taken from the catch
on board contain 10% or more of mussels, by weight, with visible damage to their shells or the catch contains 5% or more,
by weight, of gravel, stones or other surface material or substrate of the mussel bed other than dead shells.
(d) A representative sample will
consist of no less than 3 samples of 10 Kilograms of mussels taken different parts of the catch.
The requirements of this byelaw shall not apply when the total catch of mussels retained onboard weighs less than 10 Kilograms
or when the quantity of mussels weighs less than 5% of total catch of other species.
The provisions of this byelaw are without prejudice to any historic right of Several Fishery, Act of Parliament,
Royal Charter or other rights that exist within the District as referred to in Section 6(a) of the Sea Fisheries Regulation
Act 1966 except the private fishery rights held by the Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.
Limitations on quantities of Mussels that may be removed
No person
shall operate a vessel that, during the course of a 24 hour period, removes more than 13.6 cubic metres of mussels from any
part of the District.
No mussels shall be carried on board at the time of commencing
fishing.
For the purpose of calculating the quantity of mussels, in
cubic meters, no allowance shall be made in respect of the quantity of any dead shell, sand, and other species or debris mixed
with the catch.
The requirement of this byelaw shall not apply to persons
operating under an authorisation by the Committee for the collection of seed mussels under the Mussel Minimum Size Byelaw.
The provisions of this byelaw are without prejudice to any historic right of
Several Fishery, Act of Parliament, Royal Charter or other rights that exist within the District as referred to in Section
6(a) of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966 except the private fishery rights held by the Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.
Mussel minimum size
(a) No person shall, without the written consent of the Committee, remove from the fishery mussels of
which
more than 10% by weight, of a representative sample, will pass through a space 18mm in width. A representative
sample will consist of no less than 3 samples of 10 kilograms of mussels taken from different parts of the catch.
Catches of mussels that do not meet this criteria, and also rejected small mussels, must be returned immediately to
the seabed.
(b) collection of seed mussels – The Committee will give
written consent to all applicants to allow the removal of mussels below the minimum size from a specified area and during
a specified period of time provided that:
(i)
Representative samples taken from the area show that the size of seed
mussels within that area
are above a modal size of 15mm shell length or that the seed mussels are at a population density above 10,000 per square metre that they are likely to suffer from stunted
growth or high mortality.
For the purpose of this section of the byelaw a representative sample will consist of at least 10 samples of 3kg taken from different parts of the mussel bed;
and
(ii) Account has been taken of any scientific advice it has received in relation to
the best conditions
for the sustainability of the fishery and the results of
any relevant
surveys
Application for consent
will be processed as quickly as is possible taking into account the need for any harvesting of seed mussels to take place
prior to likely high levels of predation by starfish.
Modal size will be most frequently occurring shell length measurement within a sample.
Written consent granted by the Committee shall be carried
at all times when operating under this authorisation.
The provisions of this byelaw are without prejudice to any historic right of Several Fishery, Act of
Parliament, Royal Charter or other rights that exist within the District as referred to in Section 6(a) of the Sea Fisheries
Regulation Act 1966 except the private fishery rights held by the Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.
Oysters
(a) No person or vessel shall tow or operate any dredge or dredges with an aggregate width of blade or
front edge that exceeds 4 metres when dredging or fishing for oysters in any public fishery within the district.
(b) No person shall remove from any public fishery within the District any oysters that will pass through a circular ring
of 7.0 centimetres in internal diameter. This requirement shall not apply to the pacific rock oyster,
(Crassostrea gigas).
The provisions of this byelaw are without prejudice to any historic right of Several
Fishery, Act of Parliament, Royal Charter or other rights that exist within the District as referred to in Section 6(a) of
the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966 except the private fishery rights held by the Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.
Dredging for bivalve molluscs other than cockles,
oysters, mussels and scallops
(a)
No
person shall continue to operate any dredge or fishing instrument for the purpose of taking any species of bivalve molluscs
other than cockles (Cerastoderma edule), oysters (Ostrea edulis), mussels (Mytilus edulis) and scallops (Pecten maximus) if
representative samples taken from the catch, including any undersized bivalve molluscs, contain 10% or more of bivalve molluscs,
by weight, with visible damage to their shells.
A representative sample will consist
of the full contents of the dredge or if greater than 30 kilograms no less than 3 samples of 10 kilograms of shellfish taken
from different parts of the catch.
Catches of shellfish that do not meet this criteria must
be returned immediately to the seabed.
The provisions of this byelaw are without prejudice to any historic
right of Several Fishery, Act of Parliament, Royal Charter or other rights that exist within the District as referred to in
Section 6(a) of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966 except the private fishery rights held by the Southend-on-Sea Borough
Council.
Closure of beds - bivalve molluscs
This byelaw shall
apply to all bivalve molluscs with the exception of native oysters (Ostrea edulis).
(a) The Committee
shall, for the purpose of fishery management and control of exploitation, implement a closure of bivalve mollusc beds provided
that it has taken into account:
· Consultations
with relevant persons or bodies which represent those fishermen exploiting
the fishery within
the district; and · The advice for such action from fishery scientists who appear to them to be suitably
qualified; or · The advice of Natural England
(b) A closure of beds under this byelaw will
make it an offence for any person to removed, take or disturb any specified species of bivalve molluscs from within any area
and during any period of time specified by the Committee.
(c)
Where any bed or part of a bed is closed under this byelaw, the Committee
will cause notices to be
displayed in the vicinity of the specified area clearly defining the area and period of time to which the measures will apply.
Copies will also be provided to persons or bodies appearing to represent those fishermen engaging in the fishery within
the district.
The provisions of
this byelaw are without prejudice to any historic right of Several Fishery, Act of Parliament, Royal Charter or other rights
that exist within the District as referred to in Section 6(a) of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966 except the private
fishery rights held by the Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.
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