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Byelaw Summary
The Kent & Essex IFCA district closely matches the county boundaries of Kent and Essex this has meant that as well as including the area previously regulated by Kent & Essex Sea Fisheries Committee, the K&EIFCA district also includes areas which were previously regulated by other agencies (Sussex Sea Fisheries Committee, Eastern Sea Fisheries Joint Committee, the Environment Agency Thames, South East, Anglian).
Section 6 of The Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order 2011, transfers the byelaws made by Sussex Sea Fisheries Committee (SSFC) and Eastern Sea Fisheries Joint Committee (ESJFC) and the Environment Agency sea fisheries byelaws to K&EIFCA for those parts of its district that were previously regulated by these bodies. This amalgamation practically changes little on the ground but does mean that there is a large amount of legislation that varies depending on your location in the district. K&EIFCA have made a commitment to review all of the legacy byelaws as a priority and sees the first step on this process as undertaking a strategic review of all its key fisheries (by undertaking a similar fisheries management assessment to that used by Sussex IFCA ‘Navigating the Future’).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHELK POT LIMITATION EMERGENCY BYELAW (Applies to areas A,B,C and D). The Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority, in exercise of its powers under Sections 155 and 157 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, hereby make the following byelaw.
1. General Provisions 1.1 No person shall set on the seabed any whelk pot in any part of the District unless they have been issued with a permit to do so by the Authority.
1.2 Application for a permit to fish under this byelaw shall be made using printed forms available from the Authority. This form will require applicant’s details, vessel details and specification of number of tags required to a maximum of 300.
2. Permit Conditions 2.1 The permit may only be used by the authorised person to set whelk pots from the Registered Fishing Vessel named on the permit. No more than one permit will be issued per Registered Fishing Vessel.
2.2 A fee will be charged for each permit which shall be payable prior to issue. The fee payable for issue of a permit is as follows: £100 plus 30 pence for each tag issued.
2.3 The Named Registered Fishing Vessel must be registered in accordance with Part II of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, and the regulations made there under (or any statutory modifications or re-enactment thereof), or in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. The vessel must also hold a current fishing licence valid for catching whelks within the district issued by the appropriate UK fisheries department at the time the application is made.
2.4 Each permit holder will be issued with no more than 300 numbered tags.
2.5 Each permit holder may set no more than 300 whelk pots within the District. No person shall set a whelk pot within the District that does not have a numbered tag issued to that person attached to it.
2.5 Any person losing more than 10% of their tags may obtain replacement tags by writing to the Authority within 21 days explaining the loss and providing the numbers of the tags that have been lost. The cost of replacement tags will be paid by the applicant.
2.6 No person shall set a whelk pot that is fitted with a tag that has previously been notified as lost.
2.7 No person shall haul any other person’s whelk pots without firstly obtaining the agreement of the Authority.
2.8 The permit shall be valid for such time that the emergency byelaw remains in operation.
2.9 The permit shall not be transferable and must be surrendered to the Authority immediately if no longer required by the person it was issued to.
2.10 Under this byelaw the holder of a permit shall submit to the Authority, no later than the 5th day of the month following, such information in regard to catches and fishing effort for the previous month as the Authority may require. This information shall be entered onto a form provided by the Authority and will include accurate information regarding the weight of whelks and other species taken by the holder of the permit’s whelk pots from the District during the preceding calendar month, together with the number of pots used, and area fished.
2.11 Each string or shank of pots must be marked by a floating buoy or dahn, of at least 30cm diameter, at each end. Each of these buoys shall be clearly marked with the fishing vessel registration PLN number of the vessel named on the permit, or permit number, under which authorisation the pots are set.
2.12 Pots which comply with the requirements of the ‘Parlour Pots – Crabs and Lobsters’ byelaws are exempt from the requirements of this byelaw.
3. Entry into Force This Byelaw will come into force on 28 November 2011 and will remain in force (unless revoked or extended by the Secretary of State) until 27 November 2012.
4. Interpretation For the purposes of this byelaw- ‘Authority’ means the Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority as defined in Articles 2 and 4 of the Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Order 2010 (SI 2010 No 2190);
‘District’ means the Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority District as defined in Articles 2 and 3 of the Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Order 2010 (SI 2010 No 2190);
‘authorised person’ means a person issued with a permit under this byelaw; and
‘whelk pot’ means a pot or trap set for the purpose of catching whelks.
Explanatory Note The purpose of this byelaw is to provide protection for whelk stocks within the Authority’s district by issuing permits and restricting the number of whelk pots that may be set. This emergency byelaw will be kept under review by Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and will be either replaced with a permanent byelaw, extended by 6 months, revoked, or expire.
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The byelaws relating to area A – Area A includes all the area previously covered by Kent & Essex Sea Fisheries District, from the old lighthouse in Dungeness, Kent to the northern boundary of Essex on the River Stour; extending into the Thames Estuary up to Mucking Creek and keeping the same seaward limit, as Kent & Essex IFCA. Within Area A byelaws have been made covering the following areas below, For full details of the byelaws please download here. • Vessel Size and Engine Power
The byelaws relating to area B – This 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 keep by Kent & Essex IFCA. Within Area B byelaws have been made covering the following areas below, For full details of the byelaws please download here. • Application to fish for scientific or breeding purposes
The byelaws relating to area C – Eastern Sea Fisheries Joint Committee previously regulated area C. The Southern boundary reflects the old Kent & Essex Sea Fisheries district boundary with the northern boundary now reflecting more closely the Essex county boundary. Within Area C byelaws have been made covering the following areas below, for full details of the byelaws please download here. • Revocation of existing byelaws
The byelaws relating to area D – The Thames Region of the Environment Agency regulated area D prior to the creation of Kent & Essex IFCA. Area D starts at Mucking Creek following the Thames up river to the new Kent & Essex IFCA boundary that runs from Dartford creek (River Darent) on the south shore to Mar Dyke on the North Shore. For full details of the byelaws in area D please download here.
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