Closed area · DAERA
Bottom-towed gear prohibited
The Marine Protected Areas (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022 · in force since 2023-01-01
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.
Regulation 3(1)(d): "fishing for sea-fish using demersal mobile gear is prohibited in" the Rathlin Island SAC and MCZ. Regulation 2: "demersal mobile gear" means any fishing gear towed along the sea bed or otherwise moved through the water on or close to it, "and includes, for example, a dredge, demersal seine net and demersal trawl net". Regulation 3(3): gear must be secured and stowed in transit.
Fishing for sea-fish using demersal mobile gear is prohibited in the Rathlin Zone.
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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