Austin Mitchell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Austin Mitchell on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have been prosecuted for setting intertidal nets in England in each of the last three years.

George Eustice

Prosecutions for setting intertidal nets in England are undertaken, for the most part, by the Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authorities (IFCAs). The ten IFCAs manage sea fisheries resources to six nautical miles around the English coast.

· In 2011, North Eastern IFCA made one prosecution relating to intertidal nets and Cornwall IFCA had one case where a prosecution was commenced alongside another, potentially more serious, non-fisheries offence.

· In 2012 there were no prosecutions.

· In 2013, North Eastern IFCA made two prosecutions.

· To date in 2014, there are two cases under investigation by Cornwall IFCA,

one case under investigation by North Eastern IFCA, and three pending cases with Southern IFCA. These cases will not necessarily result in a prosecution in a court.

In all of these years there will be cases where warnings or cautions were issued or seizures were made instead of formal prosecutions.

Environment Agency records indicate that 12 people have been prosecuted in the past three years for setting an intertidal net which targeted or caught salmon or sea trout for which they did not have an Environment Agency licence to do so in England.

The River Tweed Commission (RTC) has its own legislation to control netting both in England and in Scotland which is included in The Scotland Act 1998 (River Tweed) Order 2006. In England, the RTC took seven prosecutions relating to intertidal nets in 2011, five prosecutions in 2012, and five prosecutions in 2013.