Summary of the Eastern IFCA formal consultation on the Marine Protected Area Byelaw 2018 and the Shrimp Permit Byelaw 2018

Summary of feedback

Comments were provided by a range of stakeholders including those with a conservation interest and those with a fishing interest.  Eastern IFCA would like to thank all stakeholders that participated in the consultation, who will have also received a personalised response.

In general, fishers were most concerned by the administration of permit conditions and how this will impact their business models.  There still appears to be a significant dichotomy of strong opinion in this regard but Eastern IFCA is not proposing to implement any limitation on permits at this time.  Rather, this will be taken into consideration through a dedicated consultation. Other key objections included the model for issuing permits (with regards to who ‘owns’ the permit), the requirement to have veil nets on all vessels, the impacts of potentially closing the fishery mid-season and the enforcement and costs of I-VMS. In regard to the marine protected areas byelaw the main objection was in relation to the closed areas on the North Norfolk Coast

The associated summary of responses for both byelaws can be found here

Changes made to the Shrimp Permit Byelaw as a result of the Formal consultation

Following the consultation, the following changes were made:

  • Removal of the eligibility criteria (i.e. the provision relating to relevant offences)
  • Various changes to the impact assessment to account for smaller business models and accounting for ‘shore-based’ jobs
  • Removal of the requirement for all shrimp fishing nets to have veil nets (i.e. separator trawls) or sorting grids.

Eastern IFCA intends to re-consult on the Shrimp Permit Byelaw 2018 in relation to an amendment regarding the use of electronic monitoring devices.  This is in recognition of the potential additional burden placed on fishers by the proposed amendment.  For more details click here.

Changes made to the Marine Protected Areas Byelaw 2018 as a result of the formal consultation

Following the consultation, the following changes were made:

  • Minor wording changes which did not have the effect of altering the intendent effect of the byelaw
  • Removal of closed areas 32 and 33 (inshore North Norfolk Coast and ‘seasonal corridor’ areas respectively). New chart here and for reference the previous proposal is here

Eastern IFCA intends to submit the amended Marine Protected Areas Byelaw 2018 to the Marine Management Organisation for formal QA before being submitted to the Minister for approval.  It is worth noting that with regards to closed areas 32 and 33 that the need for the closure will be considered further, particularly with regard to the wider ecological benefits of protection of juvenile fish.  It may be the case that these closures are implemented in subsequent iterations of the Marine Protected Areas Byelaw in the near future however, should this be the case it will be subject to further consultation. 

Further Information

A detailed summary of changes to both byelaws can be found here

Marine Protected Areas Byelaw 2018

The wording of the byelaw can be found here

The associated Impact Assessment can be found here

Shrimp Permit Byelaw 2018

The wording of the amended byelaw can be found here

The permit conditions for Category 1 permits can be found here and Category 2 permits here

The associated Impact Assessment can be found here

The website article for the re-consultation on the Shrimp Permit Byelaw 2018 can be found here

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