Wash Aquaculture Management – revised interim management

On the expiry of the Wash Fishery Order 1992, the ‘lays’ (private aquaculture areas) in The Wash ceased to exist along with any rights or titles previously held by ‘lay holders’.

To protect aquaculture businesses using lays, the Authority implemented ‘interim measures’ which involved closure of ‘lays’ to the public fishery and allowing access by those who were had been ‘lay holders’ via an exemption. The measures effectively maintained the status quo that existed under the Order with regards to access to what used to be private lays.

Significant delays in the Authority’s application for a new Several Order have resulted in the interim measures having been in place for far longer than was anticipated. Further, Defra has recently advised that the application will be further delayed until at least 2027/28.

Because of the delays, maintaining the status quo under the interim measures has become legally untenable. This is particularly true where there is currently no aquaculture taking place within the ‘lay’ areas and where wild cockle settlements occur within such areas and are not made available in the public fishery. As such, the Authority has undertaken to implement a new interim policy to enable Wash aquaculture lawfully.

New Aquaculture policy

At the 63^rd Eastern IFCA Meeting, held on 11 March 2026, the Authority approved a new policy which is summarised as follows:

All areas which were previously designated as lays will become open to the public fishery by default unless:
- – Former ‘lay holders’ can provide evidence of ongoing, active aquaculture within the areas; or
- – Former ‘lay holders’ provide a realistic and achievable business plan for undertaking aquaculture within the area.
Where a ‘lay’ is not being used for aquaculture and there is no plan to do so, the areas will remain associated with the person who was the lay holder and remain ‘dormant’ for the time being.
‘Dormant’ areas will still be available to those who were the former ‘lay holders’ under interim management if a business case is made to use them, including where a sub-littoral seed mussel is identified.
Allocation of aquaculture areas will be reviewed once a permanent management mechanism has been developed. Allocation of an aquaculture area under the interim measures, and previous ownership of lays, will be taken into account as part of that process.

At the core of the new policy is seeking to enable aquaculture in The Wash whilst also enabling access to areas where wild cockle has settled to the public fishery. Where aquaculture activities are genuinely occurring, there will be no disruption and should there be the opportunity for aquaculture in the future, the areas will be available to those who had previously been lay holders.

Next Steps

Those who were lay holders will be contacted in the near future to provide more information about how to transition into the new interim measures. Some key elements of our planned dialogue are as follows:

- – Dialogue on what constitutes a ‘business plan’ for the purpose of the new policy.
- – Dialogue on how to manage aquaculture areas where wild cockles occupy some of that area.
- – Timeframes for opening lays to the public fishery where no aquaculture is taking place.
- – Plans for ensuring that, in the event of a sub-littoral seed mussel fishery being opened, lays can be quickly accessed by those who previously held the lay.