Closed area · Kent & Essex IFCA
Bottom-towed gear prohibited
Bottom Towed Fishing Gear (Prohibited Areas) Byelaw 2024 · in force since 2026-04-17
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 2026-10-29.
Paragraph 4: "A person must not use bottom towed fishing gear within the prohibited areas." Paragraph 2: "bottom towed fishing gear" means "any trawls, seines, dredges, or similar gear, including trawls towed on or very close to the seabed, which are actively moved in the water by one or more fishing vessels or by any other mechanised system and in which any part of the gear is designed or rigged to operate on, and be in contact with, the seabed in order to take, or disturb, any sea fisheries resources"; "use" means "moving, towing or dragging gear, with or without the intention to take sea fisheries resources" on or above the seabed, on the surface of the sea, or anchoring or leaving it on the seabed.
A person must not use bottom towed fishing gear within the prohibited areas.
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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