Whelk fishery | GOV.WALES

Explains the reasoning for the way we are managing the whelk fishery in the Welsh zone.

Part of:

Sea fisheries

First published:

13 December 2021

Last updated:

5 September 2022

Introduction

In Wales whelk support a high value fishery with:

landings in the range of 3500-7000 tonnes each year, and
an estimated first sale value of £4- £8M

Staged increases in the whelk minimum landing size:

from 45mm to 55mm in 2019, and
from 55mm to 65mm in 2020

have allowed more whelk to breed before being captured.

We recently introduced further management measures to safeguard the stock and the environment. These include adaptive management to ensure the long term sustainability of the fishery.

This guide explains the new whelk management measures and how we will manage the fishery.

Whelk permits

From 1 March 2022, you will need a permit to fish commercially for whelks with pots using a powered vessel. We will issue the permits with conditions which can be varied from time to time to safeguard the stock.

Permit period: 1 March 2022 to 28 February 2023

Annual Catch Limit (ACL): 5,298 tonnes

This is the total amount of whelk which can be taken by all permitted vessels combined, during a permit period.

Flexible Monthly Catch Limit (MCL)

Month	Catch limit
March	50 tonnes
April	50 tonnes
May	50 tonnes
June	50 tonnes
July	50 tonnes
August	50 tonnes
September	50 tonnes

This is the maximum amount of whelk each permitted vessel can take in a given month. All permitted vessels will get the same MCL, which will be updated here each month.

We will use the MCL to ensure the ACL is not exceeded. This will also ensure that the benefit of the fishery is spread across the permit period in line with historical fishing patterns. (See Whelk fishery - methodology used to calculate catch limits Figure 2 & Figure 3 on page 12 &13)