Marine Management Organisation
Current projects:
- Small eyed ray project aiming to remove the non retention policy in 7e.
- Lyme Bay investigation into the level of fishing in Lyme Bay.
Date of next meeting:
Tuesday, 13 September 2022: 4pm to 6pm and will be held online. Please contact regionalfisheriesgroups@marinemanagement.org.uk to request the invite link.
Meeting notes:
Collaborative Science:
Quota Presentations:
Lyme Bay Code of Conduct
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has responded to concerns from fishermen that an increase in sole quota has led to conflict and potentially overfishing in Lyme Bay.
The MMO and Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authorities (IFCA) have been investigating the issue and have created a steering group to oversee the investigation. The Steering group includes representative fishers from the Lyme Bay Community Interest Company, and other ports outside of Lyme Bay, as well as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), IFCA, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture (Cefas) and MMO representatives.
At a recent steering group meeting, a best practice Code of Conduct for sole fishing with gill nets in Lyme Bay was agreed as follows. Lyme Bay is defined as the area inside a line from Beer Head to Portland.
- A minimum mesh size 5 inches (127mm) for gill nets targeting sole.
- All fixed nets should be marked with a buoy showing the PLN of the vessel at both ends of the net.
- Flags and radar reflectors are used where possible and practical to mark the location of nets.
Note: That these are best practice recommendations and not law.
The first recommendation is to support the sole population by letting smaller soles increase their opportunity to breed. The second is to help prevent gear conflict by increasing the visibility of net locations to prevent them being caught up in trawl gear, and so that other netting vessels can avoid setting nets that cross over nets already set in the water.
The MMO is working with Cefas and other organisations to develop a scientific investigation into what impact increased fishing in Lyme Bay may be having on sole populations, the marine environment, and the potential socio-economic impacts on fishers. This work involves the use of MMO data from logbooks, the Catch App and from observers at sea and in fish markets, to analyse catches made by different vessels as well as other possible work to look at the wider sole population.