Fish for Whelks

No person can set a whelk pot in the district unless they have been granted a whelk permit by Kent & Essex IFCA and must set their whelk pots in compliance with the Whelk Fishery Flexible Permit Byelaw a summary of which is outlined below. Anyone wishing to fish for whelks within the district must hold a current KEIFCA whelk permit. There are 2 categories of permit available. Category 1 permits for up to 300 pots and Category 2 permits for up to 10 pots. A Category 1 permit costs £100 and a Category 2 permit costs £30. Each tag costs 30p.

Summary

No person shall set a whelk pot that it is not fitted with a tag issued to that person. Each string of pots shall be clearly marked with a floating buoy or dahn at each end. The buoy or dahn must be at least 30 cm diameter and shall be clearly marked with the whelk permit number, and in the case of a registered fishing vessel, the PLN. All whelk pots must contain at least 10 escape holes no less than 25mm in diameter positioned at least 150mm from the base and no less than 50mm from the top of the pot. All whelks must be graded for size using a riddle constructed of parallel bars no less than 25mm apart. 

The Whelk Fishery Flexible Permit Byelaw introduced a requirement to riddle the whelks which are caught to ensure that small whelks are returned to the seabed and specified a minimum landing size of 53 millimetres shell length with a 5% undersize tolerance. This means that the minimum size of whelks that can be caught in the Kent & Essex district is 53mm shell length. 

To view a copy of the Whelk Fishery Flexible Permit Byelaw click here

For a Category One permit application, click here

For a Category One nominated permit application, click here

For a Category Two permit application, click here

For a Category Two nominated permit application, click here