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Guidance: Introduce or keep non-native fish and shellfish

Centre For Environment Fisheries Aquaculture Science

October 10
11:02 2022

Its an offence to introduce or keep controlled non-native fish or shellfish without a licence.

If you introduce or keep non-native fish or shellfish without a licence you could get a fine and a criminal record

When you need a licence

You need a licence to:

  • introduce non-native fish into inland waters
  • farm non-native species (or those not found locally)
  • keep or introduce controlled non-native species of:
    • freshwater fish
    • crayfish
    • lobsters

You also need permission to:

  • move fish from or to an inland water (fishery, rivers, canals, drains and stillwaters)
  • trap crayfish in the wild
  • import live fish and shellfish

You may need more than 1 licence or permission before you can introduce or keep the fish or shellfish.

All licences and permissions are free.

You may also need a permit to allow certain activities for species covered by the requirements of the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation.

You can apply for a permit or a licence from Natural England (NE) for England or Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for Wales.

Permit to introduce and keep non-native fish in inland waters

You must get a permit to introduce and keep non-native fish in inland waters (fisheries, canals, rivers, managed lakes, etc). To obtain a permit in England you will need to contact the Environment Agency (EA) and for a permit in Wales you will need to contact NRW.

Authorisation to farm non-native fish and shellfish

To farm non-native fish or shellfish, or those not found locally, you need to get the following from the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI):

Licence to keep non-native freshwater fish (ILFA licence)

Get a licence to keep or introduce controlled non-native freshwater fish (not for farms or inland waters) from the FHI:

Application to keep or introduce non-native fish

When you dont need an ILFA licence

You dont need a licence to keep:

  • common carp (Cyprinus carpio)
  • goldfish (Carassius auratus)
  • ide or orfe (Leuciscus idus)
  • rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, other than anadromous steelhead)

You dont need a licence to keep the following species in ornamental wholesale and retail premises, indoor aquariums or garden ponds (discrete bodies of water no bigger than an acre, on private residential premises with no risk of fish escaping into the wild):

  • grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)
  • sturgeon (Acipenser and Huso)

You dont need a licence to keep certain species in an indoor aquarium or if kept for ornamental (including trade, zoos and public aquariums), scientific research or conservation purposes.

Freshwater fish that can be kept for ornamental, scientific research or conservation purposes (ODS, 18.9 KB)

Licence to introduce or keep non-native crayfish

If you wish to introduce, hold, keep or sell any of the crayfish species listed below you will need to contact NE for England and NRW for Wales to get a licence:

  • signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus)
  • spiny cheek crayfish (Orconectes limosus)
  • red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii)
  • virile crayfish (Orconectes virilis)
  • marbled crayfish (Procambarus fallax f. virginalis (Procambarus virginalis)

To introduce or keep any other species of crayfish, please apply to the FHI using form CRAY2

When you dont need a crayfish licence

You dont need a licence to keep:

  • native or white clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes)
  • red-clawed crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) in indoor aquaria for ornamental use

You need a licence from NE in England and from NRW in Wales to take white clawed crayfish.

Licence to introduce or keep non-native lobsters

Get a lobster deposit licence from the FHI:

Application to keep or introduce non-native lobsters (lobster deposit licence)

You need a lobster deposit licence to keep or introduce the following types of lobster within 1 mile of tidal waters:

  • American or Canadian lobster (Homarus americanus)
  • European lobster (Homarus gammarus) (when kept with American or Canadian lobsters)

Permission to move fish to or from a fishery

If you want to introduce any fish or fish spawn into an inland water, you need a permit from the EA. To get this your fish may have to pass a health check.

Import live fish or shellfish

You need permission to import live fish and shellfish from the FHI.

Contact

Fish Health Inspectorate

Email:

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