DEFRA - Legal Minimum Landing Sizes

East Anglian Version

Species DEFRA Notes

Bass

 36 cm  

Blue Ling

 70 cm  

Coalfish

 35 cm  

Cod

 35 cm  

Haddock

 30 cm  

Hake

 27 cm  

Herring

 20 cm  

Horse Mackerel

 15 cm  

Ling

 63 cm  

Mackerel

 30 cm See Note 1 Below ( North Sea Only )

Megrim

 20 cm  

Plaice

 27 cm  

Pollack

 30 cm  

Saithe

 35 cm  

Sardine

 11 cm  

Sole

 24 cm  

Unclassified*

 18 cm See Note 5 Below.

Whiting

 27 cm  

TIP: Hover over a species name, you may see a photo.

Note
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Details
30cm in North Sea, 20cm elsewhere.
Rays and Skate measured across the wings.
Southern Sea Fisheries local bye-law imposed,
further classifications applies for .
Black Bream 23cm, Lemon Sole 25cm and Red Mullet 15cm.
Cornwall Sea Fisheries local bye-law.
Any other species not on this list appears to have no minimum landing
size, in match conditions most clubs use this as a minimum of
unlisted species.
Corrections to Angling Trust List as Omitted but DEFRA Min Shown.
Angling Trust states, Must Not Be Retained.

Other bye-laws maybe imposed by other councils, please check on local council websites for Sea Fisheries information.

List Options
DEFRA East Anglian

East Anglia's Legal Minimum

This DEFRA list masks out all items of the full list that are not applicable to East Anglia.

Angling Trust

Good anglers use Angling Trust.

The Angling Trust list once the NFSA, this is used for people that wish to better protect fish stock.

DEFRA UK Verison

The full DEFRA list for UK as set out in CR 850/98 ANNEX XII with some local bye-laws noted.

Comparison Lists

for geeks and people that need to get out more, Dan-LL then....

DEFRA East Anglia & AT

The DEFRA East Angling list in comparison to the Angling Trust list.

DEFRA UK & AT

The full DEFRA list for UK in comparison to the Angling Trust list.

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The DEFRA Body

DEFRA is the legal body when it comes to minimum landing sizes, the DEFRA sizes should to used as the minimum for both Shore and Boat, lots of other organisations also have retention sizes charts with a larger species range and sizes but to be legal you should never dropped below the DEFRA list.

Many people prefer to use charts such as the Angling Trust one, you may also hear of the NFSA chart but this group has now ceased to be with the Angling Trust stepping in their place. If you are fishing a match or just a pleasure angler, wherever possible try to use the AT version to help protect our fish stocks as the DEFRA limits are set quiet low.

Over half a dozen on the main DEFRA list does not apply to East Anglia, use the DEFRA-East Anglian version to mask these out

This Infomation

The information here has been gathered from the Government, Angling Trust and other bodies, if anyone has ever read the white paper CFP they will know what an awful web of confusion lays within it, MLS is stated as applying to anglers that sell there catch in one place, commercial only in another and recreational in other places, it is a mess but I would ask everyone to follow the DEFRA list as minimum, all data supplied here has been thoroughly checked but we are not to be held accountable of inaccuracies.