Regional Fisheries Groups - North East 4b
Area overview: The region spans from Berwick to Cleethorpes/Grimsby Port and includes Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham, North Yorkshire, and East Riding.
Meeting notes and videos
Meeting Videos
You can watch the most recent Northeast 4b meeting video via the below link:
Northeast Regional Fisheries Group (RFG) Meeting - 12-02-25
Meeting notes
You can find the Northeast 4b meeting and quota notes via the links below. The meeting and quota notes are kept for the last 18 months, if you require meeting notes prior to this, please contact the RFG team (regionalfisheriesgroups@marinemanagement.org.uk) who will be able to assist you.
- February 2025
- September 2024
- January 2024
Projects
Crab and Lobster Fisheries Management Plan (FMP)
The crab and lobster FMP was published in December 2023. There are a number of measures recommended in the FMP (please see the poster for further information and the indicative timescales).
Defra has commission the MMO to lead delivery of proposal three, the trial of finer scale management in two lobster fishery units (LFUs) in the Northeast – Northumberland and Durham LFU and Yorkshire Humber LFU. These LFUs were highlighted in the FMP for priority management due to their stock sizes being well below maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and their exploitation rates being close to or above the maximum reference point.
Included below are meeting notes from Amble and Whitby port visits in December 2024.
Seals
Dr Claire Tanner and Dr Katrina Davis from the Marine Conservation and Ecological Department at the University of Oxford conducted a study quantifying the proportion of catch partially eaten by seals in the UK, as well as the economic impact this is having on fisheries around the coast. The researchers interviewed industry members from ports around the coast and held in-person workshops in partnership with the MMO to discuss findings to date and mitigation ideas.
MMO and Defra have been working together to test the effectiveness of non-lethal Targeted Acoustic Startle Technology (TAST) to keep seals away from nets. Defra are also considering the next steps that could be taken to address this under Clean Catch 2 (an expansion of the existing Clean Catch programme) that is developing and trialling a range of bycatch monitoring and mitigation measures. The RFG team hope to have an update from Defra in the coming months.
Ghost Fishing
Ghost Fishing UK is a registered charity that can help retrieve lost fishing gear and have a wealth of experience with entanglements. They first survey the site to find and record the fishing gear, then create a recovery plan and work out the most effective way to get the gear safely to the surface. This may be to cut the pots away from the entanglement and raise them up one at a time until there is a manageable mass to raise. They are very careful not to damage gear so that it can be returned with little repair.
Many fishers in the Northeast region have lost their fishing gear over recent years due to the increasing number of storm events. Fishers can pass on location details of any sites up to 30m in depth where lost gear could be recovered to Caley.McIntosh@marinemanagement.org.uk or can report this online at:
Fishing Community Lost Fishing Gear Reporting – Ghost Fishing UK
Area contact list
- RFG: regionalfisheriesgroups@marinemanagement.org.uk
- RFG Northeast Area Lead: Caley.McIntosh@marinemanagement.org.uk
- MMO North Shields office: Northshields@marinemanagement.org.uk / 0208 026 5561
- MMO Scarborough office: Scarborough@marinemanagement.org.uk / 0208 026 0538
- MMO Beverley office: Beverley@marinemanagement.org.uk / 0208 02 60519
- MMO HQ: info@marinemanagement.org.uk / 0300 123 1032
- Northumberland IFCA: nifca@nifca.gov.uk / 01670 797676
- Northeastern IFCA: ne-ifca@eastriding.gov.uk / 01482 393515
- MCA office: hullmo@mcga.gov.uk / 020 3817 2018
- NFFO: nffo@nffo.org.uk / 01904 635430
For further contact details, please see ‘Who to Contact in the MMO’
Updates to this page
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Crab and lobster Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) update.
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18 October 2024 meeting video added. Latest quota update video added.
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Update 18 September 2024
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January meeting note update
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Meeting notes and quota presentations added.
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Meeting notes added
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26 April 2023 update.
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Feb update
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successes
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New date for meeting
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update
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First published.