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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.
Cockle Fishery - Limitation on quantities of cockles that may be removed
No person shall operate a vessel that, during the course of that operation, removes more than 13.6 cubic metres of cockles
from any part of the District during any 24-hour period.
No cockles shall be carried
on board at the time of commencing fishing.
For the purpose of calculating the quantity,
in cubic meters, of cockles no allowances shall be made in respect of the quantity of dead shell, sand, other species or debris
mixed with the catch.
For the purpose of this byelaw 13.6 cubic metres is deemed equivalent
to 500 x 6 gallon baskets.
Cockles must be loaded into bags or containers
of a uniform capacity of 1.13 cubic metres. (This will mean that the total catch will be contained
within 12 bags/containers).
All such bags or containers shall be clearly
marked with a load line if capacity is not level with the top of the side surfaces.
It shall be permitted for a person to carry cockles loose in the hold of their vessel provided that a hold load line has
been calculated by a vessel surveyor appointed by a Maritime and Coastguard Agency authorised organisation, to show the level
to which the hold may be filled to contain, 13.6 cubic metres of cockles. Documentation of these
calculations and the position of the loadline shall be submitted to the Committee and a clear mark shall be placed
on all four sides of the hold showing this calculated load line.
To enable checks for compliance with these regulations cockles carried loose in a vessel hold shall be stowed level.
The Byelaw shall not apply within the area of The Thames Estuary Cockle Fishery Order 1994.
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.
Cockle Fishery - Approval of fishing instrument
No person shall operate any instrument, other than a rake operated by hand, for the taking of cockles
unless a Certificate of Approval for the instrument has been issued by the Committee pursuant to this byelaw.
A Provisional Certificate of Approval in respect of an instrument which has not previously been the
subject of a full approval under this byelaw may be issued by a Fishery Officer and be valid for one calendar month.
No more than two provisional certificates of approval may be issued in respect of any instrument.
A full certificate of Approval in respect of an instrument will be issued where a Fishery Officer is satisfied on inspection
of a representative sample of cockles that less than one tenth of the cockles collected have been damaged during the operation.
A representative sample of the cockles will include cockles being retained and also rejected by the riddle during the
course of a dredging operation in which the instrument has been operated at its normal speed.
A full Certificate of Approval issued pursuant to this byelaw will be valid from the date of issue until the 31st
December following that date.
A full Certificate of Approval shall cease to have any effect for
the purpose of this byelaw if the instrument that is the subject of the approval has been altered since the grant of the approval.
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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