Upcoming Events

18th—20th June 2014—Marine and Coastal Policy Forum,

Plymouth

12th—13th July 2014—Dorset Seafood Festival, Weymouth

Newsletter Website Development

We are currently re-

designing out website to

ensure that all the relevant

information is easily availa-

ble to our stakeholders and

partners. Please get in

touch if you have any ideas

or suggestions as to what

you would like to see on

our website!

www.southern-ifca.gov.uk

PhD Studentship Opportunity

Southern IFCA have teamed up

with Natural England and

Bournemouth University to offer

a PhD studentship to a qualified

individual.

Title: Harvesting invertebrates

from coastal habitats

The project aims to look at the

consequences of invertebrate

harvesting on the invertebrates,

their habitats and their bird pred-

ators.

Click on this link for further infor-

mation or search on the Bourne-

mouth University website.

DEADLINE: 31st May, 2014

Partnership Working This season a large portion of both our research and

enforcement work has focused on working in partner-

ship with other organisations and agencies. This has

proven to be highly successful and we hope to contin-

ue to develop our relationships and incorporate joint-

working into a major aspect of our work stream.

On the enforcement side, we have been out and about

around the District on patrol with the Marine Manage-

ment Organisation, the police, the UK Border Force

and the Environment Agency.

Over recent months we have also had a few meetings

and training opportunities with other IFCA colleagues

across the country. These gatherings are fantastic

opportunities to hear about current activities and future

management ideas. Engagement within and between

IFCAs, partner organisations and stakeholders are

crucial for the smooth running of inshore fisheries

management.

We are determined to ensure that all forms of fisheries

management within the District is evidence-led with

robust and up-to-date information. In March we under-

took a Side Scan Sonar Survey of two locations around

the Isle of Wight with members from Eastern IFCA and

CEFAS. This survey allowed us to learn how to use the

survey equipment whilst successfully mapping the

main features of potential tranche II Marine Conserva-

tion Zone sites.

this issue

Partnership Working P.1

Marine Protected Areas P.2

Solent Oyster Stock Assessment P.3

Cuttlefish Code of Practice P.4

ISSUE

SPRING

2014

04

Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Officers working with the Police on patrol.

Thanks for reading. Please get in touch if you would like more

information about any of our articles or have any ideas for future editions.

E. enquries@southern-ifca.gov.uk

T. 01202 721373

IFCA Progress

The DEFRA Secretary of

State must prepare a re-

port about the conduct and

operation of IFCAs, to be

laid before Parliament,

every four years. They are

now asking for evidence on

how each individual IFCA

has worked to meet its

duties. The evidence will

help to prepare the first

report, which is expected to

be presented to Parliament

in December.

The call for evidence is

open until 01/08/2014.

Side scan sonar tracks from a survey.

Taking students out for a learning experience.

New Fisheries Management Measure

Cuttlefish Traps Code of Practice To ensure that cuttlefish eggs are able to develop and hatch, the points listed be-low should be followed by any person carrying out cuttlefish trapping activities within the District of the Southern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA): If cuttlefish eggs are found attached to cuttlefish traps take care to minimise

damage caused to these eggs when hauling and shooting gear; Avoid cleaning or washing traps when cuttlefish eggs are found attached; Once traps have finished fishing for the season fishermen should not remove

their traps from the sea until the cuttlefish eggs attached have hatched, typical-ly during late August or September;

When leaving traps in the sea, users should seek to avoid conflict with other users of the sea and avoid damaging features of Marine Protected Areas.

When leaving traps in the sea, users should regularly attend their traps to re-move captured creatures, or remove entrance panels to avoid ghost fishing.

EXPLANATORY NOTE This Code of Practice (CoP) aims to protect cuttlefish eggs which have been laid on and attached to cuttlefish traps. By following the advice provided in this code of practice, fishermen will minimise the damage caused through fishing to cuttlefish eggs, enabling the eggs to develop and hatch, thus potentially re-populating the cuttlefish fishery. Cuttlefish breed once, and die soon after laying their eggs, it is therefore important that the number of eggs that reach maturity is maximised. Providing adult cuttlefish have the opportunity to spawn before capture, the trap fishery should not dramatical-ly influence subsequent recruitment

1.

This Code of Practice was developed with the industry as a first alternative to a byelaw because the damage caused to cuttlefish eggs through fishing can potentially be addressed through small changes in fishing practice. These best practice measures were developed by the District’s cuttle-fish fishermen, many of whom already follow this code of practice. 1Royer, J., Pierce, G. J., Foucher, E. and Robin, J. P. The English Channel stock of Sepia officinalis: Modelling variability in abundance and impact of the fishery. Fisheries Research 78 (2006) 96–106.

This season, we continue

with developing fisheries

management for European

Marine Sites (EMSs) and

learn more about the

tranche 2 Marine Conser-

vation Zones (MCZs)

Internships and projects

This summer, we are hosting a

trial run of student internships in

association with the National

Oceanography Centre, South-

ampton. Three students were

chosen to undertake the summer

internship—each one will focus

on a particular project. The stu-

dents will also have the oppor-

tunity to learn about the inner-

workings of the organisation and

further develop their understand-

ing of the industry. We are also

hosting two masters thesis pro-

jects which will continue through

to next year.

Keep an eye on our social media

pages (facebook and twitter) for

photos, blogs and updates from

our students.

Obstruction and assault A local fisherman was fined for

obstruction and assault on the

8th of May, 2014. Mr. Kevin

Peter Smith of Portsmouth at-

tended court and pleaded guilty

to one charge of obstruction and

not guilty to two charges of as-

sault.

Mr. Smith was fined £1,800 for

the obstruction with no separate

penalty for the assault and was

ordered to pay the Authority’s

full costs of £4,284 plus a sur-

charge £120 towards victim

support, bringing the total fines

and costs to £6,204.

ENFORCEMENT UPDATE

On the 13th of May, dur-

ing a routine night patrol

in Poole Harbour 40 ki-

los of manila clams were

found on disruption of

illegal fishing activity—

38% of the clams found

were below minimum

landing size.

SEA BASS NURSERIES

From April 30th until

November 1st im-

portant sea bass

nursery areas within

the District are closed

to fishing. Please fol-

low this link for further

information.

Work on the second tranche of MCZs

is currently underway with the aim of

holding a public consultation in early

2015, and designation of sites by the

end of that year. To support the se-

lection of sites for future tranches,

DEFRA has been working with the

Devolved Administrations in the UKm

the Joint Nature Conservation Com-

mittee (JNCC) and national conser-

vation agencies to take stock of the

element of marine resource conserva-

tion. Conserving and managing our

resources now will improve our chances

of future resource-use.

MARINE CONSEVATION ZONES

In the last edition of the newsletter, we

delved into the newly designated

tranche I Marine Conservation Zones.

As previously mentioned, we are work-

ing with stakeholders to incorporate

voluntary codes of practice within these

areas.

habitats and spe-

cies protected in

existing and

planned marine

protected areas.

For the second

tranche they are

Looking to designate sites which

address ‘big gaps’ within the marine

protected area network which are

likely to have sufficient supporting

evidence. Further evidence has been

collected over the last few months .

The candidate second tranche sites

for the Southern IFCA District in-

clude: Bembridge, Norris to Ryde,

Yarmouth to Cowes, The Needles

and Studland Bay. For further infor-

mation about these proposals please

read the following document.

“The UK has com-

mitted to establish-

ing an ecologically

coherent network of

MPAs”

The Solent was once home to the largest self-

sustaining native oyster stock in Europe, and

supported the most significant European Native

oyster fishery. From the 1970s onwards the

Solent’s Native oysters have been in decline

and in 2013 the stocks were almost completely

depleted, resulting in Southern IFCA placing a

temporary closure on the fishery. A large scale

oyster regeneration project is currently being

planned, but evidence in the form of a stock

assessment is required to aid decision making

when managing the Solent fishery. In the past

an annual survey monitoring the oyster stock

has been undertaken by CEFAS, however the

last survey was carried out in 2011 due to

restricted budgets and a lack of samples found.

Southern IFCA would like to use the existing

framework (See CEFAS, Solent Fishery – Oyster

Stock Report – 5-8 July 2011) and sample at

locations in both the Western and Eastern Solent

to both continue a 20+ year dataset (excluding

2012 and 2013) and provide a pre-restoration

baseline in order to determine the current state of

the Solent oyster stock and determine the appro-

priate management solutions.

We are hoping to obtain funding for the project,

however, due to the importance of the stock as-

sessment, Southern IFCA will fund the cost of

vessel charter if funding is not available. In addi-

tion to this, Southern IFCA staff will be involved

with the collection, analysis, report writing and

outreach and communication to our stakeholders.

Fishery Focus: Live fast, die young

The common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) is a

seasonal visitor to the Southern IFCA coast-

line. They are highly sensitive to environmental

variability, thus the start of the cuttlefish sea-

son has been fairly sporadic over recent years.

One of the main factors which determines their

arrival is temperature (the optimum tempera-

ture is between 13 and 14°C which usually

falls in May). The cuttlefish has a ‘live fast, die

young’ lifecycle. Their life cycle usually lasts

between 1.5 and 2 years and ends after their

first (and final) breeding event. This species is

mainly caught in specially designed ‘cuttle

pots’, but are also targeted by trawling.

Solent Oysters—Stock Assessment Marine Protected Areas

Some interesting statistics...

In 2012:

- 260.3 tonnes were caught in the

Southern IFCA District, valued at

£528,236 at first sale.

sediment and estuarine birds were identi-

fied as confirmed activities that interact

with the subfeature and will have an ad-

verse effect, and thus require a detailed

appropriate assessment. We require to

obtain further information about these gear

and subfeature interactions through evi-

dence gathering and research. An example

of this is the collaborative PhD studentship

advertised on the front page.

The effective evalua-

tion and manage-

ment of all fishing

activities within Euro-

pean Marine Sites is

an on-going process

and an important

The UK Government is committed to

establishing a well-managed ecologi-

cally coherent network of Marine Pro-

tected Areas (MPAs) in our seas. The

Natura 2000 European Marine Sites

and Marine Conservation Zones have

been areas of high importance for

fisheries management in the Southern

IFCA District over recent months.

EUROPEAN MARINE SITES

UPDATE

At the beginning of the year we intro-

duced two new byelaws to protect

highly sensitive marine features from

damaging types of fishing gear/activity

(if you missed this update please refer

to our website or contact us via the

details on the last page).

All types of fishing gear interaction

with EMS features will be reviewed

and we are currently considering the

next batch of high risk interactions.

The primary focus in the Southern

IFCA District will be on clam dredging

over intertidal mudflats, oyster dredg-

ing over intertidal and subtidal mud-

flats, and bait digging/hand gathering

over the intertidal mud of the Solent

EMS. In the Poole Harbour EMS,

pump scoop dredging, bait dragging

and bait digging impact on intertidal