Shellfish Conservation (Hansard, 22 March 1999)

§ Lord Donoughue

The responses to our consultation last summer on improved conservation measures for shellfish proposed by the Fisheries Conservation Group were generally very positive.

In the light of this clear endorsement, the Government have decided that legislation should be laid to increase from 1 January 2000 the minimum landing sizes of lobster, edible crab, and male spider crab landed into the UK from British registered fishing vessels.

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From the same day the landing of any lobster or crawfish which has been V-notched would also be prohibited. In Northern Ireland, the current Great Britain landing size of 65mm carapace width for velvet crab will be introduced there at the same time.

The landing size for whelks will be 45mm. This recognises concerns expressed in the consultation exercise that in some parts of the country 45mm was the largest size of whelk found and a larger size was impracticable.

These moves are aimed at conserving shellfish stocks and clearly illustrate our commitment to work with the industry.

Full details are below:

Minimum landing sizes from 1 January 2000	Minimum EU requirement	UK size
Lobsters	85mm (87mm from 1/1/2002)	87mm
Edible crabs:
North Sea south of 56°N (except the "Cromer" fishery) to the Essex/Kent border	115mm	130mm
The "Cromer" fishery (the coasts of Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk)	115mm
Scottish west coast and North Sea north of 56°N (including the whole of the Firth of Forth)	140mm	140mm
North of 55°N on the west coast of Scotland (but including Loch Ryan)	130mm	140mm
South of 56°N on the west coast except ICES areas VHd, e and f	130mm	130mm
Off Devon, Cornwall and the Scilly Isles within ICES Vile and f	140mm	males—160mm females—140mm
The Bristol Channel and the remainder of the English Channel	140mm	140mm
Velvet crabs	none set	65mm
Spider crabs	120mm	males—130mm females—120mm
Whelks	45mm	45mm