Whelk fishery catch limits

In Wales whelk support a high value fishery with:

• landings in the range of 3500 to 7000 tonnes each year
• an estimated first sale value of £4 to £8M

Staged increases in the whelk minimum landing size have allowed more whelk to breed before being captured:

• from 45mm to 55mm in 2019
• from 55mm to 65mm in 2020

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.

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 fee: £304

Annual Catch Limit (ACL): 4,768 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)

Total landed catch to 31 October 2024: 3,144 tonnes

Permit fee: £285

Annual Catch Limit (ACL): 4,768 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)

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)

Total Catch Landed: 3007 tonnes

This is the total whelk landed so far in this permit period. 

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.

Total Catch Landed: 4,250 tonnes 

This is the total whelk landed so far in this permit period.