Seasonal Crawfish Fishery Closure Announced

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has announced a seasonal closure for crawfish fishing in English waters of ICES area 7. The closure will run from November 17, 2025, to May 31, 2026, and applies to all UK and EU vessels, regardless of the gear used. 

This decision, which was not an original option in a summer consultation, reflects strong feedback from stakeholders who advocated for a longer closure. The MMO also considered advice from 2024 to better align fishing opportunities with tidal patterns. 

The extended closure for 2025/2026 is intended to provide increased stock protection and will allow the MMO to monitor the socio-economic effects of a longer closure period. The information gathered will help inform future management decisions. The MMO has stated that this specific closure duration is for the 2025-2026 season only. The organization plans to engage with stakeholders again before introducing any future measures.

Good mix of fish to end the week in Newlyn!

Dull but dry with most of the fleet all at sea this #FishyFriday morning...

the netters are all between trips so t was down to the Britannia V...

and the Ygraine to put some trips of hake ashore mid neap tide...

both the handliners...

and sardine boats had their share of pelagic fish...

with some off to CEFAS...

 and their labs...

while the tuna guys are all helping get more answers on the feeding habits of the bluefin surrounding our shores...

no doubt Mr Smith is doing his bit to help with the Maverick...

cracking red gurnard...

black bream...

and bonito tuna all added to the wild mix of fish on the market again...

with film crews never far from the action!

You can help Save Penzance Art School!

 

Help Save Penzance Art School – Create a vibrant future!

PZArts CIC is a local team committed to reviving Penzance Art School and its historic sister buildings: the Library and Science School. Their mission is to restore these much loved spaces as welcoming, creative hubs at the heart of the community. They aim to bring heritage arts and crafts education back to life, echoing the school's historic significance where many of the Newlyn School artists, including Stanhope Forbes and Bernard Leach, taught. This truly significant and historic part of Cornish and British art in the 19th and 20th centuries will be honoured as they offer opportunities for making, learning, exhibiting, and connecting across generations. These buildings hold deep creative and cultural significance, and the team believes they deserve a future as vibrant as their past.

Rooted in Penzance’s rich artistic legacy, their vision looks forward with hope: inclusive, imaginative, and community-led. With your support, they can breathe new energy into these iconic spaces and return them to the people of Penzance as places of inspiration, learning, and shared creativity. This is just the beginning of an exciting journey. The team would love for you to be part of it and to follow along as they bring this vision to life.

For more information, please visit https://www.pzartscic.co.uk for more information

Time's Running Out for England's MPAs Heads up!

 

📣 The clock is ticking on a crucial consultation. You’ve only got a few weeks left to influence proposed fisheries management measures in 42 of England's Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) wants to hear from everyone—fishers, environmental groups, and coastal communities. This isn't just about rules; it’s about the future of our seas. Their consultation, which was extended to get more feedback, opened back on June 9th and closes on September 29, 2025. Don't miss this chance to have your say!

What’s on the table?

The proposals are designed to protect roughly 30,000 km² of our seabed. The key measures include:

Banning bottom towed gears in 31 MPAs.

Prohibitions on both towed and static gears in four MPAs.

Specific bans on traps or lines in certain areas.

Protecting sensitive habitats and species like rocky reefs, fan mussels, and spiny lobsters.

As Nicholas Greenwood from the MMO puts it, these measures are based on science and are "vital to ensuring the long-term health of our marine ecosystems."

Get Involved and Make a Difference

This is your final opportunity to review the draft byelaws, maps, and impact assessments. Take a look and submit your views via the online survey.

🔗 Find the full details and have your say here

Once the consultation closes, the MMO will review all responses before making any final decisions.

To learn more about what Marine Protected Areas are and why they matter, check out their official guide.

🔗 What are Marine Protected Areas?

Fish, Trace, Ship Act now! Are you on board?

Support for our Fishers #fishtraceship

We are dedicated to supporting the UK fishing industry and understand that changes in regulations can be challenging. This post is to provide you with the latest information on upcoming changes to seafood export requirements and how we are working to help you navigate them.

Full details for exporters of fish can be found here.

What is happening?

As you may know, we have been in contact regarding new information required for seafood exports to the EU. These changes are part of the EU’s illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing regulations and will take effect from January 2026. It is important to note that these are separate from the outcomes of the UK-EU reset deal of May 2025.

We are working closely with UK fishing authorities to ensure all parties are aware of these changes and their potential impact. You can find more details in the updated EU Frequently Asked Questions document.

Latest Updates

• July: We introduced the first of these changes with a new optional field for the start date of the fishing trip. From 10 January 2026, this will be a mandatory requirement in addition to the existing landing date. Changes to transport documentation will also require you to enter details for the first mode of transport.
• September: We are now rolling out the next set of changes, introducing new fields for gear type used and area of catch. These fields are optional for now and will not appear on the Catch Certificate until January 2026. We strongly urge you to begin using these fields as soon as possible to get familiar with the new requirements.

How these changes affect you?

A significant portion of UK seafood is exported, with approximately 75% of it going to the EU. Exporters will need to provide this new information for their produce to enter the EU. Even if you do not export directly, these changes may still impact you as your buyers will need this information to sell your produce onwards. These changes also apply if you are involved in direct landings into EU ports.

What is changing – Catch Certificate

From 10 January 2026, the Catch Certificate will require the following new information:

• The start date of the fishing trip
• The gear type used
• The area of catch (which exclusive economic zone (EEZ) the catch occurred in and whether there is interest from a regional fisheries management organisation (RFMO))

Act Now! Get on Board!

We cannot stress this enough: start adopting these new changes early. While the new EU requirements don't become mandatory until 10 January 2026, we, along with other UK fishing authorities, strongly advise you to familiarize yourself with the changes as they are rolled out and begin providing this information to your buyers. This proactive approach will help minimize disruption to your business and ensure your exports continue to move smoothly.

How we are supporting you

We understand the extra burden these changes create. That's why we are working to support fishers, merchants, and exporters to minimize any disruption to your operations. UK Fishing Authorities have published new guidance explaining these changes, and we have been conducting face-to-face sessions across England this summer. More engagement opportunities are planned for the wider UK this autumn, so please look out for our updates.

We are also looking for fishers, merchants, and exporters to join our research panel to help us design and implement these changes to the Fisheries Electronic System (FES). If you are interested, please sign up here.

What are we doing

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and other UK Fisheries Authorities have been working diligently to understand the new regulations and what they mean for the UK fishing industry. The MMO has been developing updates to FES to support exporters in providing the new information. We are introducing these updates in a phased manner to give you time to become familiar with the changes before they become mandatory in January 2026.

Please remember to use the hashtag #FishTraceShip and get on board with the changes. We are here to help you every step of the way.

UK fishing sold out - NFFO's Mike Cohen gives his take.

What happened to the 12 mile exclusive limit?

 

The Brexit reset deal is being described as “an astonishingly bad deal” for UK fishing — a deal that hands away 12 years of access to our waters, strips the industry of its best tool for growth, and replaces evidence-based fisheries management with political spin and sentiment. What does this mean for the future of British fishing, food security, and our coastal communities? In this episode, we dig into why many believe this deal drags us back to the past just as the industry was poised to move forward. 

Mike Cohen, Chief Executive of the NFFO, calls Sir Keir Starmer’s Brexit reset an “astonishingly bad deal,” giving away UK waters, undermining the future of British fishing, and replacing evidence-based management with politics and sentiment. Seafood Matters Podcast is available on all podcast networks and on YouTube.

More episodes of the Seafood Podcast can be heard here.

Dodge those showers in Newlyn this morning!

Good to see the Ripple repairs are underway...

a good few boats in the harbour this morning with the weather not being very clever, still plenty of Newlyn netters at sea though...

Monday morning's market was lucky to get some good landings from the beam ralr Billy Rowney from a week-long trip...

along with a good mic of trawl fish from the Crystal Sea...

always good to see shrimps on the auction...

despite it feeling like summer has well and truly hidden itself under the duvet there are plenty of summer favourites like the John Dory being landed...

along with all kinds of ray 

some trawl hake...

and some cracking plaice...

there was almost no inshore fish to speak of, a  few boxes of mackerel...

but our eight-legged friends are still very much in evidence...

with every kind of fishing boat landing them...

pallet trucking fish out of the market, watch out for that hole in the grating guys...

safely in through the gaps, the big crabber, Winter of Ladram...

flying the flag of our Celtic cousin...

sun's up!..

the striking colour scheme for...

the guardship, Diligent...

and the scalloper, Speculate.