The Isles of Scilly Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority (IFCA) scheduled a meeting to discuss a report from the Interim Chief Fisheries Officer, and to consider a byelaw for crustacean shellfish.

Crustacean Shellfish Byelaw

The report pack included a recommendation that officers begin developing a byelaw to manage crustacean fishing in the district. According to the report, shellfish fishing is the main fishery activity for the local commercial fleet, with approximately 65 tonnes of lobsters, edible crabs, and crawfish landed in 2024. The report stated that the Isles of Scilly Fishermen's Association had requested that the authority investigate developing a shellfish permit byelaw.

The report noted the challenges faced by local fishers, such as selling catches and sourcing bait and equipment, and highlighted the importance of supporting the implementation of the national Crab & Lobster Fishery Management Plan¹. The report stated that a bottom-up approach to developing management measures could support the fleet, contribute to the sustainability of the fishery, and maintain the quality of the marine environment.

Chief Officer's Report

Colin Trundle, Interim Chief Fisheries Officer, prepared a report for the meeting that included a number of updates.

According to the report, there had been only two requests so far that year for Isles of Scilly IFCA Fishing Gear Permit Byelaw permits to use bottom towed gears in the district, and of the two issued, only one had been used, with the vessel making three trips to fish within the permitted areas.

The report also stated that consultation for the amended permit conditions, as agreed in the previous meeting, went live on 8 October and would be open for responses until 5 November 2025. The consultation covered four changes to the permit conditions:

• changing the required iVMS² unit from three specific units to any type approved unit
• enabling the Authority to require additional remote monitoring equipment when issuing a permit
• setting a maximum tow bar length for vessels using dredges in the district
• introducing a restricted fishing time of 07:00 – 19:00 for vessels using dredges in the district.

The report noted a setback with the national IVMS program, with one of the manufacturers of type approved units withdrawing from supplying tracking data to the UK Hub due to a contractual dispute. This affected the Authority, as one of that manufacturer's units was a Fishing Gear Permit Byelaw 2021 permit condition requirement. An alternative tracking unit was sourced and installed on the vessel to enable the permit holder to exercise their permit.

The report also mentioned that Cornwall IFCA's survey vessel was chartered in August to carry out a subsea imaging survey in the district, aiming to compare an area where trawling had taken place with a suitable control area. All officers were involved in the survey, which collected 367 still images and just under four and a half hours of video. The data was supplied to an external contractor for analysis, with the results expected to be presented at the next Authority meeting.

Trial deployments of scallop pots were also carried out, but were not very successful in terms of catching the target species.

The report stated that despite plans to continue collecting baited remote underwater video (BRUV) data in collaboration with Exeter University, no work was carried out due to the researcher's unavailability.

The Fisheries Research Officer role had been filled by a candidate with previous experience working with Isles of Scilly IFCA, and the catch sampling program was going well. The program had also allowed surveillance on the impact of octopus on fishing activity and their main prey, the shellfish.

Recreational potting had been busy again that year, with 230 permits issued, 37 more than at the same time the previous year. Several patrols had included monitoring compliance with the byelaw, and a few reminder notices were attached to non-compliant gear, but no follow-up action was needed.

To date, there had been 10 Atlantic bluefin tuna landed into St Mary's, with sizes ranging from 78 to 202kgs. Some had remained on Scilly, but the majority had been sold at Newlyn.

A number of at-sea patrols had been carried out since the last meeting, with some associated inspections. Efforts had been made to ensure that oversized vessels were not fishing in the district, particularly to the south and east where Newlyn based vivier crabbers had been fishing very close to the six nautical mile fishery limit.

The report also noted that Vigilant was now out of the water for the winter, and that a Work Boat Code 3 Gap Analysis Report had been carried out to provide guidance on ensuring compliance with the code.

A new location had been secured for the container in preparation for vacating the Carn Thomas site, with space found at the Moorwell site.

In September, the MMO³ Conservation team visited Scilly as part of their investigation into non-licensable activity in six priority MPAs⁴, with Isles of Scilly SAC being one of them.

Minutes

The report pack contained the minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 June 2025. During that meeting, Councillor Andrew Guy was appointed as Chairman of the Isles of Scilly IFCA for the ensuing year, and T Allsop was appointed as Vice-Chairman.

The minutes also record that the Interim Chief Fishery Officer presented the Budget Monitor report, the Review of Isles of Scilly IFCA Constitution, the Isles of Scilly IFCA Annual Plan 2025-26, and the Review of Fishing Gear Permit 2021 Byelaw Permit Conditions.

Simon Pengelly, of the Association of IFCA's, gave a presentation on the 'Measuring A Balance Project'. Jules Webber presented the Natural England Officer Update.