The Sizewell C Project 6.3 Volume 2 Main Development Site Chapter 22 Marine Ecology and Fisheries Appendix 22F - Review of Commercial and Recreational Fisheries activity in the vicinity of Sizewell Power Station: Edition 3 Revision: 1.0 Applicable Regulation: Regulation 5(2)(a) PINS Reference Number: EN010012 May 2020 Planning Act 2008 Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED SZC-SZ0200-XX-000-REP-100029 Review of commercial and recreational fisheries activity in the vicinity of Sizewell Power Station: Edition 3 TR123 Commercial & NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED Page 1 of 66 Recreational Fisheries. Ed. 3. NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED SZC-SZ0200-XX-000-REP-100029 Review of commercial and recreational fisheries activity in the vicinity of Sizewell Power Station: Edition 3 TR123 Commercial & NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED Page 2 of 66 Recreational Fisheries. Ed. 3. NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED SZC-SZ0200-XX-000-REP-100029 Table of contents 1 Background .......................................................................................................................................... 9 2 Data & Methods .................................................................................................................................. 12 2.1 Summary of Data Sources ....................................................................................................... 12 2.2 MMO data ................................................................................................................................ 12 2.3 Radiological Habitats Surveys .................................................................................................. 13 2.4 Coastal fisheries reviews .......................................................................................................... 13 3 Legislation that governs fishing activities in the Sizewell study area ............................................. 14 3.1 European Legislation................................................................................................................ 14 3.2 UK Legislation .......................................................................................................................... 14 3.3 Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) Byelaws .................................................. 15 3.4 Legislation for Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)........................................................................ 16 4 Commercial fishing gear types used in the primary area ................................................................ 18 4.1 Otter trawls .............................................................................................................................. 18 4.2 Beam trawls ............................................................................................................................. 18 4.3 Long lines ................................................................................................................................ 19 4.4 Pots/traps ................................................................................................................................ 19 4.5 Nets (gill/trammel/drift) ............................................................................................................. 20 5 Description of the Sizewell study area and its commercial fisheries .............................................. 21 5.1 Lowestoft ................................................................................................................................. 22 5.2 Southwold ................................................................................................................................ 22 5.3 Dunwich and Sizewell .............................................................................................................. 22 5.4 Aldeburgh ................................................................................................................................ 23 5.5 Orford ...................................................................................................................................... 23 5.6 Felixstowe ................................................................................................................................ 24 5.7 Selling fish ............................................................................................................................... 24 6 The distribution and number of commercial fishing vessels operating in the Sizewell area ......... 25 7 Recreational fishing in the Sizewell area .......................................................................................... 27 7.1 Characterisation ....................................................................................................................... 28 7.1.1 Legislation and data requirements ................................................................................... 28 7.1.2 Species ........................................................................................................................... 28 7.1.3 Seasons .......................................................................................................................... 29 7.1.4 Locations ........................................................................................................................ 29 7.1.5 Boat fishing ..................................................................................................................... 30 7.2 Activity ..................................................................................................................................... 31 7.2.1 Expert judgement ............................................................................................................ 31 7.2.2 Angling surveys ............................................................................................................... 31 7.2.3 Camera analysis ............................................................................................................. 32 TR123 Commercial & NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED Page 3 of 66 Recreational Fisheries. Ed. 3. NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED SZC-SZ0200-XX-000-REP-100029 7.3 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 38 8 Landings and first sale value of commercial species ...................................................................... 40 8.1 Landings from ICES rectangle 33F1 ......................................................................................... 40 8.1.1 Landings by species groups ............................................................................................ 40 8.1.2 Landings by species ........................................................................................................ 40 8.1.3 Landings by gear ............................................................................................................ 44 8.1.4 Landings of key taxa ....................................................................................................... 44 8.2 Landings from the wider area ................................................................................................... 48 9 Economic importance of recreational fishing .................................................................................. 51 9.1 Methods ................................................................................................................................... 52 9.2 Results..................................................................................................................................... 52 9.3 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 53 10 Spatiotemporal distribution of commercial fisheries ................................................................. 54 11 Summary of fishing activity in the study area ............................................................................ 59 11.1 Commercial fisheries ................................................................................................................ 59 11.2 Recreational fisheries ............................................................................................................... 59 Appendix A Acronyms used in this report ....................................................................................... 65 A.1 Cefas 3-letter code, common name and scientific names of fish and shellfish ........................... 65 A.2 ICES Working Groups and their acronyms ............................................................................... 66 TR123 Commercial & NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED Page 4 of 66 Recreational Fisheries. Ed. 3. NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED SZC-SZ0200-XX-000-REP-100029 List of Tables and Figures Tables Table 1 Estimates of the numbers of commercial fishing boats operating in the Sizewell study area and their home ports ............................................................................................................................... 25 Table 2 Vessel-type occurrences in the SZC area in the summer and winter of 2014 (Anatec, 2014 & 2015) ................................................................................................................................................ 26 Table 3. Species caught by diarists in 2016 and 2017 sea angling surveys (greater than 1 record) and