Fish landing obligation

The landing obligation in 2019

As in previous years there are a number of exemptions to the landing obligation, based on survival or de minimis exemptions.  These exemptions are set out in a European Union Regulation which will shortly be published. However there are some key points:

• Species which are subject to specific prohibitions should be released unharmed and as quickly as possible.
• If you fish with traps, pots or creels there is a general survival exemption. You can continue to discard fish and shellfish immediately on capture.

General guidance on the landing obligation is provided below, however guidance for specific fisheries and areas have been produced in conjunction with the other UK devolved fishery administrations. For the Irish Sea these are

• Irish Sea Nephrops trawls
• Irish Sea towed demersal other than nephrops and beam trawls

There are additional area specific guidance documents for fisheries around the UK available at landing-obligation-2019-rules-and-regulations.

If you need more information the Department has produced the following guidance on the fish landing obligation:

• Pelagic landing obligation guidance
• Demersal landing obligation guidance
• North western waters landing obligation guidance
• North sea landing obligation guidance  
• Ports landing obligation guidance