Closed area · Cornwall IFCA
Bottom-towed gear prohibited
Byelaws for the Regulation of Cockle Harvesting in Cornish Estuaries
A CAUGHT review has read the instrument behind this closure, rather than relying on the summary published with the boundary. Where the two differ, the instrument governs; this reading was made on 2026-10-31.
Byelaw 2: no person shall remove a cockle that will pass through a 20 mm space. Byelaw 4: "No person shall fish for cockles except by hand or with a non-mechanical hand tool." Byelaw 5: exemption by written permission for scientific purposes or fishery development.
This byelaw regulates cockle harvesting only. It does not prohibit trawling or dredging for other species.
No person shall remove any cockle that will pass through a space of 20mm width. No person shall remove or disturb any cockle on a bed which has been closed. Harvesting of cockles only by hand or a non-mechanical hand tool.
Summary as published in the source dataset, shown for comparison. A dataset paraphrase can be narrower or wider than the instrument it summarises, and finding out which is the work above.
No cases have been recorded in this closure. That is not a finding that nothing happens here — it means our sweeps have not flagged anything inside these boundaries, and coverage depends on satellite passes and on vessels being tracked at all.
What a case here means. A CAUGHT case is a reason to look, not a verdict. Each one is judged on three independent factors — was it fishing, here and then; what gear does the vessel actually use; and what was prohibited there at that time — and the weakest of the three decides. Most cases are resolved.
Boundaries and rule summaries come from the published datasets named at the foot of this page and can contain errors; the legislation is the authority. If you believe this closure is described wrongly, tell us at contact@caught.org.uk.
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