Closed areas · By nation
3 closures in Jersey waters, watched from space. Together they cover 354 km².
Jersey is a Crown Dependency with its own fisheries legislation, made by the Government of Jersey for the waters around the island.
The closures here are few but sit in some of the most heavily worked ground in the Channel, where the fishing is mixed and the boundaries matter to vessels from several jurisdictions.
Jersey lies closer to France than to England, and its waters have long been fished by boats from both — an arrangement governed by a succession of treaties and, since 2021, by the UK’s trade agreement with the EU. The practical consequence for reading anything on this site is that a vessel inside a Jersey closure is as likely to be French as British, and that which rules bind it can depend on where it is licensed as well as where it is.
The closures themselves follow the same pattern as the rest of these pages: they prohibit a kind of gear, usually gear towed across the seabed, rather than fishing outright.
A case is a reason to look, not a verdict — most are examined and resolved. Every case is judged on three independent factors and nothing reads CAUGHT until all three are strong and a person has reviewed it. How a case is made.
By rule: No-take zones Bottom-towed gear Trawling Dredging All seabed fishing
By nation: Scotland England Wales Northern Ireland Isle of Man
The full A–Z of all closures · Download the closure dataset · See live cases on the map