Area A Byelaws

These byelaws apply to any part of the district within a line drawn on the seaward side of baselines 6 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea adjacent to the United Kingdom is measured.  For the purpose of this paragraph �the baselines� means the baselines as they existed at 25 January 1983 in accordance with the Territorial Waters Order in Council 1964 (65 III p.6452A) as amended by the Territorial Waters (Amendment) Order in Council 1979 (1979 II p.2866)�.

The district extends from the boundary of the administrative County of Essex in the River Stour to the old lighthouse at Dungeness in the County of Kent, the precise limits of which are defined in the Kent and Essex Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980 made by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 25 November 1980, the Sea Fisheries Districts (Variation) Order 1993 made by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 19th October 1993, and the Kent and Essex Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1995 made by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 23rd May 1995.

Under the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966, as amended by the Fishery Limits Act 1976, any person who contravenes these byelaws or where any vessel is used for fishing in any manner constituting a contravention of these byelaws, that person, or the skipper and the owner of the vessel concerned shall, subject as therein mentioned, each be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine.   In addition, the court by which a person is convicted of an offence, as above-mentioned, may also order the forfeiture of any net or other fishing gear used in committing the offence any fish in respect of which the offence was committed.

The provisions of these byelaws 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 of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966.

PETER SASS
Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority

This byelaw was been repealed and replaced on 19 September 2019 with the Vessel Length and Engine Power Byelaw

No fixed engines shall be placed or used for the taking of sea fish in that part of the District enclosed within a radius of 1.5 nautical miles of the chimney of Richborough Power Station in the County of Kent situated at 51⁰ 18.56N, 01⁰ 20.85E, during the months of April to September inclusive in any year.

No fixed engine shall be placed for used for the taking of sea fish in any part of the district West of a line drawn from London Stone near the entrance to Yantlet Creek, in the County of Kent, to Crow Stone, otherwise the City Stone of Westcliff in the County of Essex, and continued on either side of the mean high water mark.

No fixed net shall be left un-cleared for a period of more than 30 hours, although an exemption will be granted in the case of bad weather, illness of the crew or engine failure.   In the event of anticipated non-compliance, the Clerk of the committee the Chief Fishery Officer or Skipper of the Committee's patrol vessel must be informed accordingly.

Each fleet of nets or, if set alone, each individual net shall be marked by a dahn buoy at each end, such dahn buoy extending at least 1.5 metres above the surface of the water when the pole is in vertical position and carrying a flag measure at least 30 centimetres by 30 centimetres; all dahn buoys to be clearly marked wiht5 the name and address of the owner of the net, or the fishing vessel registration number of the vessel responsible for setting the net;

No net or fleet of nets shall exceed 1,000 metres in length.

For the purpose of this byelaw a fleet of nets is defined as a continuous line or group of nets, whether fixed together or not, set by one person or vessel.   The length of a net or fleet of nets shall be taken to be the distance between the dahn buoys marking each end of the net or fleet of nets as required under this byelaw.

Fishermen's attention is drawn to the fact that various District Councils have their own byelaws relating to bathing beaches.

The local fisheries committee for the Kent and Essex Sea Fisheries District (�the committee�) in exercise of powers conferred by Section 5 of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966, make the following byelaw:

When dredging for scallops (Pecten maximum) in any part of the District no more than 12 dredges may be towed at any time.   All dredges must be fitted with a functioning, operation and moveable spring loaded tooth bar and its frame must not exceed 85cms in width in any part.

(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 (IFCA) 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.

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 (IFCA) 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.

(a)      No person shall, without the written consent of the IFCA, 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 (IFCA) 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 rake 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 IFCA 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.

No person shall remove any oyster cultch from any oyster ground.

For the purpose of this byelaw �cultch� shall be taken to mean the shells of dead molluscs and any other material suitable for the reception of oyster spat.

(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 IFCA 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.

Where, in the opinion of the Committee (IFCA), in any fishery, any bed or part of a bed of shellfish within the District is so severely depleted as to require temporary closure in order to ensure recovery, or any bed or part of a bed contains mainly immature shellfish which in the interest of the protection and development of the fishery ought not to be disturbed for the time being, or any bed of transplanted shellfish ought not to be fished until it has become established, and where the bed, or part of thereof, has been clearly defined in notices displayed in the vicinity prohibiting the removal or disturbance of the shellfish, no person shall, without the written authority of the Committee (IFCA), while the bed or part thereof is so defined, take away or otherwise disturb any shellfish therein.

Application for authority from the Committee (IFCA) to take away or otherwise disturb any shellfish in a bed which is temporarily closed, in pursuance of the byelaw specified above, should be made in writing to the undersigned.

KEIFCA now relies on the  Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne Estuaries Marine Conservation Zone Native Oyster Fishery Flexible Permit Byelaw to manage the harvesting of Native Oysters in the BCRC MCZ

This Byelaw provides the Authority with the ability to balance the requirements of the designated features of the Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne Estuaries Marine Conservation Zone with the needs of persons harvesting native oysters within the same area to secure a sustainable marine eco-system and local socio-economic environment. The Byelaw introduces flexibility in the way that the Authority manages effort directed towards the native oyster fishery within the Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne Estuaries Marine Conservation Zone. All persons will be limited in the technical specifications of the vessel and gear that can be used, the areas and times which can be worked and a daily catch limit of native oysters. The flexible permit conditions will be reviewed when necessary on the basis of best available evidence and within a time period not exceeding three years.

This byelaw shall apply to all bivalve molluscs with the exception of native oysters (Ostrea edulis).

(a)      The Committee (IFCA) 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 (IFCA).

(c)      Where any bed or part of a bed is closed under this byelaw, the Committee (IFCA) 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.

(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.

Any person who takes any shellfish, the removal of which is prohibited by any byelaw in force in the District, or the possession of which is prohibited by any regulation of the European Communities, Act of Parliament or Statutory Instrument, shall forthwith re-deposit the same, without injury, as near as possible to the place from which it was taken.

No person shall use or cause to be used for the purpose 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 measures 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 is fitted to the door of each bait parlour is fitted to the pot by rubber, metal or similar natural material that will, under normal working conditions require replacement annually.

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.

No person shall remove from a fishery any berried lobster

No person shall fish for or take periwinkles or winkles otherwise than by hand picking

No person shall use when fishing for herring within that part of the Local Fisheries District which is situated in the Thames Estuary West of a line 01�20'E, a drift net with a mesh of less than 54 millimetres or a trawl net with a mesh of less than 50 millimetres as measured in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) 2108/84.

No person shall remove herring from within that part of the Committee (IFCA District which is situated within the Thames Estuary west of a line longitude 1�10'E after the date determined annually as the closure date of the Thames Estuary Herring Fishery (when the total allowable catch for that fishery has been taken up).

No person shall operate a trawl, dredge or anchored net over or on the Eagle Bank off the coast of the County of Essex and/or Studhill (known also as the Herring Bank) off the coast of the County of Kent during the period 1st February to 1st June in any year.

No person or persons shall use when fishing for herring from a vessel any drift net or group of drift nets exceeding 250 metres in length in the areas defined as the Eagle Bank and Studhill (also known as the Herring Bank) between 1 March and 30 June.

For the purpose of this byelaw, the Eagle Bank is defined as the area enclosed by a straight line drawn from a point 51�44.683'N, 01�04.417'E to a point 51�43.85'N,     01�05.17'E, thence to a point 51�44.1'N, 01�03.917'E, thence to a point 51�44.58'N, 01�02.67'E, and finally to a point 51�44.683'N, 01�04.417'E. Studhill (known also as the Herring Bank) is defined as the area enclosed within a radius of one nautical mile from the end of the landing stage at Herne Bay pier, situated at latitude 51�23'N and longitude 1�07'E.

Repealed and replaced by Minimum Fish Sizes Byelaw on 12/02/2021

No person shall remove any seafish from that part of the District around Bradwell Power Station which is covered by the Bass (Specified Areas) (Prohibition of Fishing) Order 1990, SI 1990 No. 1156, during the period 1st May and 31st October inclusive in any year, except for scientific purposes with the written permission of the Committee (IFCA).

For the purpose of this byelaw, the Bass Nursery Area is the area between the baffle wall and the Bradwell foreshore enclosed by lines drawn perpendicular (1450 true) from the North East and South West corners of the baffle wall to the shore.

The use by a vessel or vessels in the case of boats engaged in pair trawling of any demersal trawl net of a mesh size of less than 75mm may be prohibited if, in the opinion of the Committee (IFCA):-

(i)                     the use of such nets in any part of the District is damaging to immature fish stocks which, in the interests of the protection and development of any fishery, ought not to be disturbed by such gear for the time being; or

(ii)                    the discard of fish in compliance with Bycatch Regulations has a damaging effect on any    other fishery within the District, and prohibitions shall be notified in notices displayed at ports throughout the District, or, if the display of such notices is not practicable, the notice shall be published in a weekly newspaper circulating in the District.

For the purposes of this byelaw a demersal trawl shall mean any trawl designed to fish on the sea bed any part of which (including weights, wires, rope and net) is intended to be in contact with the sea bed during fishing operations.