A Trawl Permit is now required for the entire NIFCA district. This includes the outer area (3-6 nautical miles). Vessels must be less than 18.3 metres in overall length.
An exemption is required to trawl within the Specified Area (Coquet to St Mary’s MCZ). Only specified gear operated from a vessel less than 12 metres in overall length are permitted within the Specified Area.
2021 NIFCA Trawl Permit holders can operate as normal unless they wish to trawl within the Specified Area. An exemption will be required (free if a current 2021 Trawl Permit is held). The updated byelaw can be viewed HERE.
The full press release about this can be found here: Press Release – New Trawling Byelaw
If you have any questions, please contact the NIFCA office on 01670 797676.
Limits of NIFCA District
Defra has launched two calls for evidence from 12 July 2021 to 31 August 2021 to capture views from the fishing sector, wider fishing community and other relevant stakeholders on:
- latent capacity in the over 10m scallop and shellfish sector fleets; and
- impacts of greater restrictions for the under 15m scallop fleet in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
To respond to this call for evidence, please follow the link HERE.