Compliance

Adaptive vigilance

Our statutory powers

NIFCA operates under the powers granted by the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, applying an adaptive co-management approach to the North Tyneside and Northumberland coast. We believe that effective fisheries enforcement is best achieved when stakeholders have a real opportunity to engage with the management process, helping everyone understand the necessity of regional rules.

Our team focuses on:

• Upholding Minimum Conservation Reference Sizes (MCRS)
• Monitoring fishing activity within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
• Ensuring national legislation and local byelaws are adhered to

By maintaining a high risk of detection and serious consequences for illegal activity, we facilitate a level playing field where law-abiding fishers are not disadvantaged by those seeking an unfair market advantage. This integrated approach, combining community outreach with targeted action, is essential to the long-term health of our district.

Safeguarding the future

Our core mandate

Our responsibilities are anchored in Part 6 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (Sections 153 & 154), which defines our legal obligations to the region.

We must:

• Seek to ensure that the exploitation of sea fisheries resources is carried out in a sustainable way
• Seek to balance the social and economic benefits of exploiting the sea fisheries resources of the district with the need to protect the marine environment from, or promote its recovery from, the effects of such exploitation
• Take any other steps which, in the authority’s opinion, are necessary or expedient for the purpose of contributing to the achievement of sustainable development
• Seek to balance the different needs of persons engaged in the exploitation of sea fisheries resources in the district
• Seek to ensure that the conservation objectives of any Marine Conservation Zones in the district are furthered