Wash Cockle Fishery 2026 consultation
The Authority has drafted management proposals for the 2026 Wash cockle fishery following the completion of the annual Wash cockle survey and initial dialogue with Wash fishing industry at the meeting of 19 May 2026.
N.B. A report on the outputs from the industry meeting will be published alongside the outcomes of this consultation.
The key management measures for the 2026 Wash Cockle Fishery are as follows:
- The Authority is seeking to open the fishery on 15 June 2026, but this is subject to reaching agreement with Natural England
- The earliest date to confirm the opening date and notify industry will be Friday 12 June
- A Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of 4,992 tonnes
- The fishery will start with a 2-tonne daily quota
- The daily quota will be kept under constant review and may be altered to provide adequate opportunity to take the majority of the TAC prior to mid-November when cockle yields reduce
- Closures for the protection of high-density Year-0 cockles will be monitored throughout the fishery and reviewed in the event of die-off being detected
- The decision to include closures for high-density Year-) closures is required under the Wash Cockle Fisheries Management Plan however, following feedback from the fishing industry meeting, the effectiveness of such closures has been considered in more detail, and an associated report has been published.
- Closures to prevent seal disturbance will be in place until 31 August (opening on 1 September)
- All vessels must have on board trackers (either functioning I-VMS or trackers provided by the Authority) which provide location data at least once in every 3-minutes
- Wash aquaculture areas will remain closed to fishing until such time as the Authority’s revised policy on this matter has been implemented, which is anticipated to be during the cockle fishery
- Measures for the protection of small cockles which includes a requirement to sort catch to prevent landed catch containing more than 30% of cockles less than 10mm.
- No management measures specific to the Hunstanton cockle bed are initially proposed. However further consideration is being given to fishing in the area which includes potential limitations on its opening times and tides
- Other well established management measures, including catch return requirements and restrictions on prop-washing, are also included within Schedule 2 of the Wash Cockle and Mussel Byelaw 2021.
The Authority is seeking the views of Industry via a short consultation which will close as of midday on Thursday 11 June 2026. The short consultation is intended to facilitate the preferred opening of the fishery (of 15 June 2025).
To submit a response online to the questionnaire, please click the following link – Consultation Questionnaire
To facilitate your consideration of the proposals, further information is provided below: