Response from Northumberland SFC
Response from Northumberland SFC
This is the response I have recived from NSFC
Les
THE NORTHUMBERLAND SEA FISHERIES COMMITTEE
MICHAEL H. HARDY LL.BChief Executive Chief Executive’s Office Unit 60B South Nelson RoadCramlingtonNorthumberland NE23 1WF
Telephone (01670) 731399
Telefax (01670) 731639
E-mail
[email protected]
Web site
THE NORTHUMBERLAND SEA FISHERIES COMMITTEE - Home Page MARCH 2010
INFORMATION FOR ANGLERS and other interested parties
Fishing activity using fixed engines (gillnetting and T netting) in the Northumberland SFC district
Attached to this Notice is a copy of the committee’s Byelaw No. 4 Fixed Engines.
Please note that all fishing vessels under 10 metres in length with an uncapped
licence (from Defra) to fish can presently catch up to the current monthly legal quota allowance of cod, whiting and other species using legally sized gillnets.
Also please note that all under 10 metre fishing vessels which have a capped licence can only land 300 kilograms per annum of any TAC species.
Regular checks are carried out by fishery enforcement officers in respect of licensed fishing vessels at ports in the district as well as at sea using the committee’s patrol vessel St. Oswald and RIBs Bravo 1 and Delta 1.
Nets can be used to catch pot bait from locations which are not prohibited by the byelaw and provided the species caught are of at least the legal minimum size (where there is one).
Unregistered and unlicensed persons may place gillnets in the sea in legally permitted areas to catch species of the permitted minimum size and over but are not permitted to sell what they catch.
Further information is available from the committee office or from a fishery officer.
All byelaws are on the committee website but if you would like a hard copy of the byelaws, please telephone the committee office.
The above is not a formal statement of the law, for which reference should be made to the relevant legislation and any Court cases decided thereunder.
BYELAW 4
TO ACCOMPANY NOTICE ‘MARCH 2010’
4. Fixed Engines
For the purpose of section 6 of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 the placing and use of any fixed engines is hereby authorised within the district of the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee excluding such part as lies within the River Tweed as defined in the Tweed Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1859 as amended by byelaws, providing that, in relation to any fixed engine other than a trap for taking lobsters and crabs, the following conditions are complied with:
(1) Subject as mentioned below at no time shall a fixed engine be placed or suspended unattended for taking salmon or trout.
(2) During the period 26th March to 31st October inclusive, no fixed engine other than a ‘T’ net authorised by the Environment Agency’s Salmon Net Byelaws confirmed (save as to Byelaws 16 and 19) on 21st February 1995 and (as to Byelaws 16 and 19) on 8th June 1995, shall:
(a) be placed or used in a depth of water less than 7 metres unless the position of any such fixed engine is on a rise in the sea bed separated from the shore by water deeper than 7 metres at any state of the tide;
(b) be placed or used so that the headline is less than 4 metres below the surface of the water at any state of the tide;
(c) be placed to the west of a line drawn:
(i) between the seaward end of the south pier at South Shields and Marsden Point; and
(ii) between Hauxley Point and Coquet Island Light House, thence on a bearing 355º to a point 3 nautical miles and 622 metres distant and thence due north-west to Seaton Point.
(3) During the period 1st November to 25th March inclusive no fixed engine shall be placed within the following areas (known locally as the Tyne Playground, Wansbeck Playground and Coquet Playground) unless the headline shall be at least 4 metres below the water at any state of the tide:
(a) Tyne Playground
Those tidal waters and parts of the sea within that part of the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee’s district as lies within an area bounded as follows:
(i) on the north by a line one nautical mile in length drawn due east from Marconi Point, Cullercoats;
(ii) on the south by a line one nautical mile in length drawn due east from Souter Point; and
(iii) on the east by a straight line joining the eastern extremities of the northern and southern boundary lines.
(b) Wansbeck Playground
Those tidal waters and parts of the sea at Newbiggin by the Sea west of a straight line drawn between the south eastern beacon, being one of the four beacons used by ships for identifying the measured nautical mile offshore of Newbiggin by the Sea, and the easternmost of the four chimneys at Blyth Power Station, Cambois.
(c) Coquet Playground
Those tidal waters and parts of the sea within an area bounded as follows:
(i) on the north by a line drawn due west to the high water mark on the shore from a position Coquet Lighthouse bearing 355° distance 3 nautical miles and 622 metres;
(ii) on the south by a line drawn due west to the high water mark on the shore from a position Coquet Lighthouse bearing 160° distance 1 nautical mile and 1024 metres; and
(iii) on the east by a straight line joining the eastern extremities of the said northern and southern boundary lines.
