FOOD CERTIFICATION INTERNATIONAL LTD Findhorn House, Dochfour Business Centre, Dochgarroch, Inverness, IV3 8GY, Scotland, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1463 223 039 Fax: +44 (0) 1463 246 380 www.foodcertint.com Severn Estuary Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority Final Report May 2011 Prepared For: Defra Prepared By: Food Certification International Ltd FOOD CERTIFICATION INTERNATIONAL LTD Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Aim of this report .................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Context and boundary areas ................................................................................................... 1 1.2.1 IFCA responsibilities and objectives................................................................................. 2 1.2.2 Local Authority boundaries .............................................................................................. 3 1.3 Report structure ...................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Consultation ............................................................................................................................ 4 2 Commercial fisheries ....................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Overview of landings and ports ............................................................................................... 5 2.1.1 ICES Statistical Rectangles ............................................................................................... 5 2.1.2 Value and volume of commercial landings ...................................................................... 6 2.1.3 Activity from ports within Severn Estuary area ............................................................. 10 2.1.4 Economic costs and earnings ......................................................................................... 11 2.2 Fisheries management regimes............................................................................................. 11 2.2.1 Byelaws .......................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Strategy for the Severn Estuary ..................................................................................... 14 2.3 Key commercial species ......................................................................................................... 15 2.3.1 Fish assemblages ........................................................................................................... 15 2.3.2 Stock status .................................................................................................................... 16 2.3.3 Key lifecycle stages ........................................................................................................ 19 3 Recreational fisheries .................................................................................................................... 22 3.1 Overview ................................................................................................................................ 22 3.1.1 Fishing sites & catch characteristics .............................................................................. 22 3.1.2 Estimate of numbers ...................................................................................................... 23 3.1.3 Trends in recreational angling ....................................................................................... 24 3.1.4 Estimate of recreational sea angling catches ................................................................ 24 3.2 Businesses.............................................................................................................................. 25 3.2.1 Fishing tackle shops ....................................................................................................... 25 3.2.2 Sea angling clubs ............................................................................................................ 25 3.2.3 Commercial charter angling vessels .............................................................................. 26 3.2.4 Other downstream businesses ...................................................................................... 27 3.3 Value of recreational fishing.................................................................................................. 27 4 Natural environment .................................................................................................................... 28 Severn Estuary IFCA: Final Report i FOOD CERTIFICATION INTERNATIONAL LTD 4.1 Nature conservation .............................................................................................................. 28 4.1.1 Designations................................................................................................................... 28 4.1.2 Value of nature conservation ........................................................................................ 28 4.1.3 Legislation, protection and existing controls ................................................................. 33 4.1.4 Strategy for the Severn Estuary ..................................................................................... 34 4.1.5 Local Authority Biodiversity Action Plans ...................................................................... 34 4.2 Wider ecosystem ................................................................................................................... 35 4.2.1 Benthic habitats ............................................................................................................. 35 4.2.2 Marine ecology .............................................................................................................. 37 5 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 38 5.1 Gap analysis ........................................................................................................................... 38 5.1.1 Stock status .................................................................................................................... 38 5.1.2 Fishing effort .................................................................................................................. 39 5.1.3 Environmental interactions ........................................................................................... 39 5.1.4 Supporting management information ........................................................................... 39 5.2 Summary of findings .............................................................................................................. 40 Appendix 1 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 41 Appendix 2 Maps and figures ............................................................................................................... 46 Appendix 3 Gap analysis matrix ............................................................................................................ 60 Severn Estuary IFCA: Final Report ii FOOD CERTIFICATION INTERNATIONAL LTD List of Figures Figure 1: IFCA proposed boundaries (Source: Defra, 2010) Figure 2: Severn Estuary area of the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority District Figure 3: ICES Statistical Rectangles that overlap the Severn Estuary area of the Devon and Severn IFCA Figure 4: Live weight and value of landings from 31E6, 31E7 and 32E7 by UK vessels into UK ports from 2006- 2010 (Source: MMO, 2011) Figure 5: Live weight of landings from 31E6, 31E7 and 32E7 by UK vessels into UK ports from 2006-2010 (Source: MMO, 2011) Figure 6: Live weight and value of landings from 31E6, 31E7 and 32E7 by UK vessels into UK ports by species from 2006-2010 (Source: MMO, 2011) Figure 7: Location of landing ports for catches from Severn Estuary area across 2006-2010 indicating proportions by live weight (Source: MMO, 2011) Figure 8: Competent Authorities for Fisheries Regulation in England (Source: Symes & Boyes, 2005) Figure 9: Thornback ray in the Irish Sea (VIIa) and Bristol Channel (VIIf). Mean catch rates of from the UK 4 m beam trawl survey (1993 2007). Smoothed line is the three-year moving average (Source: ICES, 2008) Figure 10 Smalleyed ray in the Irish Sea (VIIa) and Bristol Channel (VIIf). Mean catch rates in the UK 4 m beam trawl survey (1993 2007). Smoothed line is the three-year moving average. Data use trawl stations from the Bristol Channel only (Source: ICES, 2008) Figure 11 Spotted ray in the Irish Sea (VIIa) and Bristol Channel (VIIf). Mean catch rates from the UK 4 m beam trawl survey (1993 2007). Smoothed line is the three-year moving average (Source: ICES, 2008) Figure 12: Conservation and Nature Designations (Source: JNCC, 2011) Figure 13: Severn Estuary SPA bird species (Sources: RSPB, 2011; Natural England and CCW 2009; Burton et al 2010) Figure 14: UK SeaMap seabed habitats (Source: UKSeaMap, 2010) Figure 15: Proportion of landings weight and value by vessel length of vessels under 10m, 10-12m, 20-30m and 30-40m Figure 16: Proportion of live weight and value of landings by gear type in 2010 Figure 17: Seasonality of