England shows the way in fishery regulation
WRASSE fishing on the south coast of England started to receive publicity in summer 2017. We were very aware that a lot of wrasse had been moving under the public radar before our involvement in 2016 and we wanted to keep everything as transparent as possible.
Initial discussions with the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCA) in southern England suggested that a sustainable fishery could be established, based on historical scientific data and studies, along with ongoing data collection that we and our fishermen were happy to contribute.
Loch Duart has been instrumental in developing management in Cornwall, where in 2019 a by-law was passed decreeing that all fishermen in the county had to be registered to fish wrasse under a permit scheme.
There are only five permits issued under the Cornwall IFCA, in order to monitor catch rates and develop the fishery gradually under a precautionary measurement.
Colin Trundle and the team at Cornwall IFCA have spent much time developing this management regime, securing the future for the fishermen who have supported the scientists.
Similar management is being used in Devon. And Dorset, headed by the team at Southern IFCA, has a different management system, which is currently proving effective at meeting the requirements of a sustainable fishery, with the fisherman working closely with Loch Duart and other salmon farms.
The IFCA in all three counties has been nothing short of excellent. They were fast in developing management measures and the enforcement has been superb.
The work they have conducted has created a sustainable system for the capture of wild wrasse. It has been a great experience working with them and a great example to the rest of the UK.
The wrasse fishery gained great interest at all levels with senior scientists at CEFAS (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science), with Peter White and Tamsin Cochrane-Dyet (a former Loch Duart fish health biologist) showing great enthusiasm for working in a new fishery and seeing more involvement in the Scottish salmon sector.
Wrasse species have seen limited research outside Scotland, and the input of these professionals, their help and assistance has added to our confidence in our strategy and made the project even more enjoyable to establish. While voluntary guidance takes place in Scotland, it is understood that we don’t have the same regulatory framework or resource to adequately manage the fishery on our west coast and islands.
We’ve got areas we’ve been fishing for four years, near Skye, and every year the ballan wrasse stocks seem to be better than they were the year before. So maybe ‘cropping’ isn’t such a bad thing. This is a key area Loch Duart feels needs to be addressed. There are SSPO (Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation) guidelines for wrasse fishermen in Scotland, with a minimum recommended size of 12cm. This is in contrast to Cornwall, where 16cm is the minimum, or Dorset, where it is 18cm.
We strongly feel that the English regulators have shown the way forward in establishing a sustainable fishery.
There is a need to better understand the impact of removing high numbers of wrasse from the waters of the United Kingdom and the effect this has on marine eco systems in which they are cropped.
There are enough historical cases to tell us that limited management on a fishery only has one result – and it is negative.
We therefore call on Marine Scotland and the industry to establish further controls, look at the work being done in England and to regulate the wrasse fishery properly.