Guidance

Introduce or keep non-native fish and shellfish

Apply for a licence to introduce, keep or farm non-native fish, lobsters and crayfish.

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and Environment Agency
Published
16 May 2014
Last updated
17 August 2023 — See all updates

Applies to England and Wales

It’s an offence to introduce and keep controlled non-native fish or shellfish without a licence.

If you introduce and keep non-native fish or shellfish without a licence you could get a fine and a criminal record

When you need a licence

You need a licence to:

  • introduce non-native fish into inland waters
  • farm non-native species (or those not found locally)
  • keep or introduce controlled non-native species of:
    • freshwater fish
    • crayfish
    • lobsters

You also need permission to:

  • move fish from or to an inland water (fishery, rivers, canals, drains and stillwaters)
  • trap crayfish in the wild
  • import live fish and shellfish

You may need more than 1 licence or permission before you can introduce and keep the fish or shellfish.

All licences and permissions are free.

You may also need a permit to allow certain activities for species covered by the requirements of the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation.

You can apply for a permit or a licence from Natural England (NE) for England or Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for Wales.

Permit to introduce and keep non-native fish in inland waters

You must get a permit to introduce and keep non-native fish in inland waters (fisheries, canals, rivers, managed lakes, etc). To obtain a permit in England you will need to contact the Environment Agency (EA) and for a permit in Wales you will need to contact NRW.

Authorisation to farm non-native fish and shellfish

To farm non-native fish or shellfish, or those not found locally, you need to apply for a permit to introduce keep and farm.

You must also apply for authorisation to farm Fish, shellfish or crustacean farm authorisation

Licence to keep non-native freshwater fish (ILFA Licence)

Get a licence to introduce and keep controlled non-native freshwater fish (not for farms or inland waters)

Application to introduce and keep non-native fish

The legislation (ILFA fish licence)

When you don’t need an ILFA licence

You don’t need a licence to keep:

  • common carp (Cyprinus carpio)
  • goldfish (Carassius auratus)
  • ide or orfe (Leuciscus idus)
  • rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, other than anadromous steelhead)

You don’t need a licence to keep the following species in ornamental wholesale and retail premises, indoor aquariums or garden ponds (discrete bodies of water no bigger than an acre, on private residential premises with no risk of fish escaping into the wild):

  • grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)
  • sturgeon (Acipenser and Huso)

You don’t need a licence to keep certain species in an indoor aquarium or if kept for ornamental (including trade, zoos and public aquariums), scientific research or conservation purposes.

Freshwater fish that can be kept for ornamental, scientific research or conservation purposes (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 58.6 KB)

Licence to introduce and keep non-native crayfish

If you wish to introduce hold, keep or sell any of the crayfish species listed below you will need to contact NE for England and NRW for Wales to get a licence:

  • signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus)
  • spiny cheek crayfish (Orconectes limosus)
  • red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii)
  • virile crayfish (Orconectes virilis)
  • marbled crayfish (Procambarus fallax f. virginalis (Procambarus virginalis)

To introduce and keep any other species of crayfish, please apply to the FHI using form CRAY2

The legislation ILFA crayfish licence

When you don’t need a crayfish licence

You don’t need a licence to keep:

  • native or white clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes)
  • red-clawed crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) in indoor aquaria for ornamental use

You need a licence from NE in England and from NRW in Wales to take white clawed crayfish.

Licence to introduce and keep non-native lobsters

Apply for a lobster deposit licence

Application to introduce and keep non-native lobsters (lobster deposit licence)

You need a lobster deposit licence to introduce and keep the following types of lobster within 1 mile of tidal waters:

  • American or Canadian lobster (Homarus americanus)
  • European lobster (Homarus gammarus) (when kept with American or Canadian lobsters)

The order Lobster deposit

Permission to move fish to or from a fishery

If you want to introduce any fish or fish spawn into an inland water, you need a permit from the EA. To get this your fish may have to pass a health check.

Import live fish or shellfish

You need permission to import live fish and shellfish from the FHI.

Contact

Fish Health Inspectorate

Email: fhi@cefas.gov.uk

Telephone: 01305 206 700

Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5pm and Friday 9am to 4:30pm

Environment Agency

Email: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

Telephone: 0370 850 6506

Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

Natural England

Email:enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk

Telephone: 0300 060 3900

Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm

Find out about call charges

Natural Resources Wales

Email:enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 065 3000

Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

Find out about call charges

Updates to this page

Published 16 May 2014
Last updated 17 August 2023 + show all updates

  1. Updated contact email address.

  2. Updated ILFA. Aquarium Ornamentals. Alphabetic checklist for BIPs V6 06.04.2023

  3. Page updated with current legislation links.

  4. Removed out of date fax number.

  5. Significant updates to include Wales - Natural Resource Wales links.

  6. Added a link for the CRAY2 application form

  7. Update the requirement to contact Natural England for a licence for non native crayfish.

  8. ILFA, Aquarium, Ornamentals, Alphabetic checklist has been reviewed and updated.

  9. The new version of the ILFA list has been updated.

  10. Added link to permit application for moving or using species covered by the EU regulation 1143/2014 on invasive alien species.

  11. Added information about the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation.

  12. Updated list of freshwater fish that can be kept for ornamental, scientific research or conservation purposes

  13. Update to reflect new legislation

  14. Amended permitted species list to add several genera, and to take account of recent nomenclature changes. No species have been removed.

  15. First published.

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