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Using the Lough

Fisheries

Pot Fishing
The species targeted by pot fishermen are the European lobster, the brown crab (Cancer pagurus)and the velvet swimming crab (Necora puber) mainly in the Narrows area and around the mouth of the Lough and Dublin Bay prawns (Nephrops norvegicus), shore crabs, and buckie whelks which are mainly harvested north of the Narrows. The velvet crab is a relatively recent fishery in Strangford Lough, first exploited in the mid 1980s, and it is caught exclusively for export.

Levels of hobby fishing for crabs and lobsters have recently been capped with the introduction of The Unlicensed Fishing for Crabs and Lobster Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008, which came into effect on 31 May 2008. The new Regulations, which complement existing measures aimed at conserving crabs and lobsters, set the level of fishing that can reasonably be described as “for personal use”. Fishing in excess of this amount without a shellfish licence is now an offence.

The Regulations place the following limits on unlicensed fishing: no more than five crabs and one lobster may be landed (or retained on board) per boat per day; no more than five pots may be fished; any marker buoys or similar floats used to indicate the location of the pots must be legibly and indelibly marked with either the name of the boat or the name of the owner of the boat from which the pots are set; and use of a stock cage / box is prohibited. The regulations do not limit the number of Nephrops pots fished or Nephrops landed although hobby fishing for Nephrops must be at a level that can be reasonably described as “for personal use” and the catch cannot be sold.

All pot fishermen (commercial and hobby fishermen) are restricted by EU, UK and NI regulations which include minimum landing sizes, licensing and v-notching [Crabs and Lobsters (Minimum Size) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999; Undersized Lobsters Order 2000] and European legislation [Council Regulation (EC) No 850/98 of 30 March 1998] and these can are summarized below:

any crabs or lobsters which are under the following minimum landing sizes must be returned to the sea: spider crabs under 120 mm (female) and 130 mm (male); velvet crabs under 65 mm; brown crabs under 130 mm; and lobster under 87 mm carapace length (see table below).
breeding lobsters that have been “V-notched” are protected and any V notched lobster or lobster with a mutilated tail must be returned to the sea. A V notch is a marking in the shape of the letter “V” with a depth of at least 5mm cut into at least one of the inner uropods of the tail fan of any lobster, with the apex of the letter V positioned inward from the edge of the flap. If the lobster is mutilated in such a way as to obscure a possible V notch in its tail then it must be returned to the sea.

Commercial shellfishing requires a Restrictive Shellfish Licence.