Minimum legal sizes
ALL FISH BELOW THESE SIZES MUST BE RETURNED IMMEDIATELY TO THE SEA
FISH, MOLLUSC AND CRUSTACEA MINIMUM SIZE EMERGENCY BYELAW 2019 – click here for a copy of the Byelaw
The measurement of the size of a marine organism is specified within Schedule 1 of the Byelaw.
Finfish |
Minimum Landing Size | |
BASS (Dicentrarchus labrax) | 42 cm | |
COD (Gadus morhua) | 35 cm | |
HADDOCK (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) | 30 cm | |
HERRING (Clupea harengus) | 20 cm | |
HORSE MACKEREL (Trachurus trachurus) | 15 cm | |
MACKEREL (North Sea) (Scomber scomber) | 30 cm | |
MACKEREL (Other Areas)(Scomber scomber) | 20 cm | |
SOLE (Solea spp.) | 24 cm | |
PLAICE (Pleuronectes platessa) | 27 cm | |
WHITING (Merlangius merlangius) | 27 cm | |
HAKE (Merluccius merluccius) | 27 cm | |
LING (Molva molva) | 63 cm | |
POLLACK (Pollachius pollachius) | 30 cm | |
SARDINE Sardina pilchardus) | 11 cm | |
Crustacea | ||
EUROPEAN LOBSTER (Homarus gammarus) | 87 mm | |
EDIBLE CRAB (Cancer pagurus) | 130 mm | |
VELVET SWIMMING CRAB (Necora puber) | 65 mm | |
SPIDER CRAB (Maja squinado) | 130 mm (males)120 mm (females) | |
120 mm (females) | ||
Mollusc | ||
QUEEN SCALLOP (Chlamys spp) | 40 mm | |
SCALLOP (Pecten maximus) | 110 mm | |
CARPETSHELL (Venerupis pullastra) | 38 mm | |
WHELK (Buccinum undatum) | 45 mm | |
RAZOR CLAM (Ensis spp) | 100 mm | |
DONAX CLAMS (Donax spp.) | 25 mm | |
HARD CLAM (Callista chione) | 60 mm | |
SHORT-NECKED CLAM (Ruditapes phillipinnarum) | 35 mm | |
GROOVED CARPETSHELL (Ruditapes decussatus) | 40 mm | |
OCTOPUS (Octopus vulgaris) | 750g |