Fisheries authorisations
Anyone who wishes to fish for eels, elvers, smelt, lamprey, freshwater crayfish or Chinese mitten crab will need to apply for a net or trap fishing authorisation. Fishing for these species without an authorisation is an offence under the Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.
When someone applies for an authorisation, we ask for information about the following:
- Where the fishing will take place
- The type of fishing method / instrument to be used
- How many fish does the applicant want to take, and for what purpose
Using this information, we assess the risk to the environment and the fish stocks themselves. We then make a decision whether to issue the authorisation. We place conditions on authorisations that set out where, how and when the fishing can take place.
Charging
We charge for processing and issuing the authorisations. The charge is calculated to only cover our costs of processing the applications. Following consultation, the charges for 2012 are as follows:
|
Fishing method or instrument
|
Number of instruments covered
|
Charge
|
|
Elver fishing - Elver dip net
|
1 only
|
£85
|
|
Adult Eel using a Fixed trap (eel racks)
|
1 only
|
£115
|
|
Adult eel, smelt, lamprey or Chinese mitten crab1 fishing using:
Wingless or winged traps. These include fyke nets (with or without leaders or wings), putcheons, pipe traps, criggs pots, baskets, hives or like instruments.
|
Up to 10
|
Year
|
Charge
|
|
2012
|
£40
|
|
2013
|
£50
|
|
From 2014
|
£60
|
|
For more than 10 and up to 20
|
£70
|
|
For more than 20 and up to 50
|
£80
|
|
For more than 50 and up to 500
|
£160
|
|
For over 500
|
£580
|
|
Smelt fishing using a seine net
|
1 only
|
£85
|
|
Crayfish trapping using:
Fyke nets (with or without leaders or wings), drop nets, crayfish traps, pots and similar instruments.
|
1 - 500+
|
£0
|
|
Note 1 - Chinese Mitten Crab fishing
Although we have approved charges for different mitten crab fishing methods, we do not expect to authorise any fishing in 2012 other than for monitoring or scientific purposes.
|
More information
For more information on fishing authorisations and to obtain an application pack, please contact our Fisheries Authorisations Team by phone on 01480 483 968 or by email at fmapplications@environment-agency.gov.uk
Or, visit these pages for more information:
