Area B Byelaws

These byelaws apply to the area was previously part of Sussex Sea Fisheries Committee district.  Area B starts at the Kent County boundary line and finishes at the old lighthouse at Dungeness.  The same seaward limit that was previously used by Sussex Sea Fisheries Committee is still kept by Kent & Essex IFCA.

Repealed and replaced by Minimum Sizes Byelaw made 12/02/2021

Repealed and replaced with Minimum Sizes Byelaw on 12/02/2021

Repealed and replaced with Minimum Sizes Byelaw on 12/02/2021

The Committee for the Sussex Sea Fisheries District in exercise of their powers under Section 5 of the Sea Fisheries regulation Act 1966 and Section 37 of the Salmon Act 1986 and with the consent of the National Rivers Authority hereby make the following byelaw:

The placing and use of any fixed engine in any part of the District is hereby authorised except that:

D. No person shall use in fishing any fixed engine, gillnet or unattended drift net between the first day of May and the 30th day of September both days inclusive providing that this paragraph shall not apply to:-

i). Any such fixed engine, net or nets with the headline at least 1.5 metres below the surface of the water at any state of the tide; or

ii). Keddle Net stands licensed by Rother District Council under terms of a lease dated the 6th day of February 1986 made between HM the Queen, the Crown Estate Commissioners and Rother District Council.

The above Byelaw was established prior to the extension of the District on 19th March 1996 (S.I. 1996 No. 847 Sea Fisheries, The Sussex Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1996), and therefore shall not apply to any part of the sea beyond three nautical miles from the baselines, as defined in the limits of the Sussex Sea Fisheries District.

1. This byelaw applies to any part of the district within a line drawn on the seaward side of the baselines 6 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea adjacent to the United Kingdom is measured. For the purposes of this paragraph “the baselines” means the baselines as they existed at 25^th January 1983 in accordance with the Territorial Waters Order in Council 1964 (1965 111 p. 6452A) as amended by the Territorial Waters (Amendment) Order in Council 1979 (1979 11p. 2866).

2. No vessel which exceeds 14 metres overall length shall be used in fishing for seafish, unless:

(i) in that part of the district which lies between 3 miles from baselines it fished there prior to the byelaw coming into force and remains in the same ownership as on 14th January 1991, or it is a vessel of the same or lesser overall length and horsepower replacing such a vessel;

(ii) in that part of the district which lies between 3 and 6 miles from baselines:

(a) it was used for fishing there before this byelaw came into force, or it is a vessel of the same or lesser overall length and horsepower replacing such a vessel; and

(b) it is authorised in writing, signed by the clerk, to fish within the district; and

(c) the vessel remains in the same ownership as at the date of this byelaw coming into force.

3. Any person who wishes to be registered as a user of a vessel as in 2 (ii)(a) above shall, within 60 days of the press advertisement of this byelaw, inform the Clerk to the Committee of his wish in writing.

4. The overall length of a vessel shall be defined as the distance in a straight line between the foremost point of the bow and the aftermost part of the stern. The bow is to be taken to include the watertight hull structure, forecastle, stem and forward bulkhead if fitted all permanent fixtures thereto, but to exclude bowsprits and safety rails. The stern is to be taken to include the watertight hull structure, transom, poop, trawl ramp and bulwark, all permanent fixtures thereto but to exclude safety rails, bumkins, propulsion machinery, rudders and steering gear, and divers ladders and platforms.

5. Definitions. For the purpose of this byelaw – “ownership” shall be determined by reference to the vessel’s Certificate of Registry of a British Fishing Vessel and held on the Department of Transport’s registry at the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen at Cardiff.

1. This byelaw applies to any part of the district within a line drawn on the seaward side of the baselines 6 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea adjacent to the United Kingdom is measured. For the purposes of this paragraph “the baselines” means the baselines as they existed at 25th January 1983 in accordance with the Territorial Waters Order in Council 1964 (1965 111 p. 6452A) as amended by the Territorial Waters (Amendment) Order in Council 1979 (1979 11 p. 2866)

2. No person shall fish for seafish except by one or more of the following methods and subject to any conditions set out in this byelaw.

(i) a trawl or trawls used in fishing for

(a) all demersal and pelagic species

(b) scallops (pecten maximus)

(c) queen scallops (clamys opercularis)

(d) whelks (Buccinum undatum L.)

(e) demersal and pelagic cephalopods.

(f) crustacean species

All other species must be immediately returned to the sea

(ii) a pair trawl used in fishing for pelagic species.

(iii) a pair trawl for demersal species; provided that when this method is used within the District West of a line drawn due South from the landward end (50 degrees 49.59 minutes North and 000 degrees 14.8 minutes West) of the Western Breakwater of Shoreham Harbour, between the first day of April and the last day of June in the same year – both dates inclusive – the codend shall consist along its length of not less than 40 rows of meshes of a minimum size of 95 millimetres when measured in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) 2108/84 between directly opposite mesh knots.

(iv) a drift net or nets with a mesh size of not more than 65 millimetres and not less than 89 millimetres when measured in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) 2108/84 between directly opposite mesh knots.

(v) a trammel net or nets, a fixed gill net or nets and all fixed enmeshing nets with a mesh of a minimum size of 90 millimetres when measured in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) 2108/84 between directly opposite mesh knots, except that in the case of keddle nets, a minimum mesh size of 50 millimetres, when measured in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) 2108/84 between directly opposite mesh knots shall be permitted in a fishing operation directed at herring and mackerel.

(vi) hooks, lines, long lines, beach seines, fyke nets, pots and traps;

(vii) oyster dredges; but only within that part of the District that lies to the West of a line drawn due South of the landward end of Bognor Pier (50 degrees 46.87 minutes North and 000 degrees 40.45 minutes West).

(viii) dredges used in fishing for scallops (pecten maximus) but only within that part of the District that lies between 3 and 6 nautical miles from baselines and provided that any such dredge is of the spring loaded “Newhaven” type. “French” or paravane type scallop dredges shall be banned.

(ix) Keddle nets at Keddle Net Stands licensed by the Rother District Council under the terms of a lease dated 6th day of February 1986 made between Her Majesty the Queen, the Crown Estate Commissioners and the Rother District Council.

3. For the purposes of this byelaw, a pair trawl for demersal species shall mean a trawl fitted with a footrope that is designed to maintain contact with the seabed whilst being towed jointly by two vessels.

4. For the purposes of this byelaw pelagic species shall mean garfish, herring, horse mackerel, mackerel, pilchard and sprat.

Explanatory Notes (These notes are not part of the byelaw)

1. The purpose of paragraph 2 (iii) is to protect the stocks of juvenile black bream and bass that are normally present in the area described during the period stated.

2. Commission Regulation (EEC) 2108/84 describes the method to be used to establish a mesh size on towed gear (trawls and seines). In the absence of a Regulation to establish mesh sizes on fixed gear the committee will use 2108/84 as the best available method for establishing any mesh size, including those of fixed fishing gears.

No person shall, in fishing for sea fish with a trawl or trawls within the District during the period beginning the first day of May and ending the last day of October both dates inclusive, fish within an area extending a quarter of a nautical mile seaward from the mark of lowest astronomical tide

SEA FISHERIES REGULATION ACT 1966

The Committee for the Sussex Sea Fisheries District in exercise of its powers under Section 5 of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966 hereby makes the following byelaw:

ANNUAL SEASON FOR THE REMOVAL OF SCALLOPS (Pecten maximus)

This byelaw applies to any part of the district within a line drawn on the seaward side of the baselines 6 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea adjacent to the United Kingdom is measured.

For the purposes of this paragraph “the baselines” means the baselines as they existed at 25^th January 1983 in accordance with the Territorial Waters Order in Council 1964 (1965 111 p. 6452A) as amended by the Territorial Waters  (Amendment) Order in Council 1979 (1979 11 p. 2866).

(i) In this Byelaw, “the prohibited season” shall mean the period from 1^st June to 31^st October in any year, both dates inclusive.

(ii) No person shall dredge for scallops (Pecten maximus) during the prohibited season.

(iii) During the prohibited season no person shall remove from the fishery using any trawl more than 200 scallops (Pecten maximus) during any period of 24 hours commencing at midnight.

I hereby certify that the above byelaw was made by the Committee at its meeting held on 29th April 2004.

Signed

T.M. Dapling

Clerk to the Committee

The foregoing Byelaw is hereby CONFIRMED on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 7 of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966; IN WITNESS whereof the Official Seal of the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is hereunto affixed on Lindsay Harris Head of Sea Fisheries Conservation Division.

Explanatory Note (This note does not form part of the above byelaw)

The Committee’s current Fishing Instrument Byelaw prohibits the use of scallop dredges, except in that part of the District which lies between three and six nautical miles from baselines. A closed season for scallop dredge use is intended to protect spawning stock, and promote growth rates. A by-catch provision has been established for vessels engaged in trawling.