Bycatch rule

What the October 2026 MMO fisheries closure extension does to bycaught

Updated 6 October 2026

A Marine Management Organisation emergency determination, signed 1 October 2026 and published as MMO Determination 2026/09 on the agency's register, has extended bycatch caps for harbour porpoise, thornback ray and undulate ray in the North Sea and Irish Sea until 31 December 2026. The extension, taken under section 23 of the Fisheries Act 2020, follows a September 2026 review of ICES special request advice that reclassified the precautionary threshold for Celtic Sea elasmobranchs. The instrument is signed by MMO Chief Executive Tom McArthur and recorded in the UK statutory register as SI 2026/1108. Bycaught species are now the named subject of a UK fisheries rule, not a footnote in a discard plan.

What does MMO Determination 2026/09 actually do?

The determination extends three existing emergency bycatch caps that were due to lapse on 30 September 2026. The first cap, set in 2024, limits harbour porpoise bycatch in the North Sea set gillnet fishery to 1.7 individuals per 100 hauls. The second, set in 2025, limits thornback ray (Raja clavata) bycatch in the Irish Sea beam trawl fishery to 4.2 percent of catch weight. The third, also set in 2025, limits undulate ray (Raja undulata) bycatch in the Celtic Sea to a hard zero, with mandatory move-on rules.

Each of these caps was originally a temporary measure, written into the relevant fisheries order with a sunset clause. Determination 2026/09 rolls all three forward by exactly 92 days, into 31 December 2026. The instrument cites section 23(4) of the Fisheries Act 2020, which permits the Marine Management Organisation to vary bycatch limits where new scientific evidence makes existing thresholds obsolete.

For skippers, the practical effect is that the move-on rule, the observer coverage rate, and the logbook code for each species all stay in force. Vessels over 12 metres operating in the affected rectangles must continue to carry an on-board electronic monitoring camera in addition to a human observer. The penalty regime under section 31 of the Act remains unchanged: civil penalties of up to £50,000 per offence, with criminal prosecution reserved for repeat offenders.

Why was the rule extended now, rather than replaced?

The trigger is a piece of advice the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea issued in August 2026. ICES special request SR.2026.04 re-examined the Celtic Sea elasmobranch stock and concluded that the precautionary buffer for thornback ray should be widened by 18 percent and the buffer for undulate ray should be widened by 30 percent. Undulate ray is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is a species of principal importance under section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.

ICES advice is not binding. Under the UK transposition of the Common Fisheries Policy, the MMO has up to 180 days to convert a special request into a revised technical measure. That window runs to mid February 2027. Until then, the agency can either let the old caps expire or extend them. Letting them expire would create a regulatory gap during the busiest quarter for the beam trawl fleet, and would technically leave the precautionary principle without an instrument in force.

Determination 2026/09 is therefore a holding measure. It keeps the old caps alive long enough for the MMO to consult on a replacement, run a 12 week public consultation, and lay a new statutory instrument before Parliament. The consultation is scheduled to open on 20 October 2026 and close on 12 January 2027.

Which bycaught species are the named subject of the rule?

Three. Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is listed under Annex II of the Habitats Directive and is a UK JNCC feature of conservation concern for the North Sea. Thornback ray is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List and is a Section 41 species. Undulate ray is listed as Critically Endangered and is the subject of a 2025 OSPAR threatened and declining species nomination.

Each of these species has been on the bycatch record for at least a decade. The novelty in Determination 2026/09 is not the species list but the legal framing. The instrument is the first UK fisheries measure since the UK left the Common Fisheries Policy to name bycaught species in its title rather than as a discard annex. The change is procedural, not biological, but it matters for enforcement: a vessel that exceeds a cap for a named species can be prosecuted under the Fisheries Act 2020 itself, rather than under the more general discards regulation.

How does the rule interact with CITES and the IUCN Red List?

None of the three species is a CITES listed species, and the determination makes no reference to the Convention. The relevance of CITES is downstream, through the UK Ivory Act 2018 and its 2026 amendment, which uses IUCN Red List status as a trigger for domestic trade controls. Undulate ray is a worked example of how Red List status and fisheries rules now pull in the same direction in UK law: a Critically Endangered species that is also the named subject of a zero bycatch cap.

The MMO has confirmed in the determination's annex that any future change to the IUCN status of the three species will trigger a fresh review under section 23(4) of the Fisheries Act 2020 within 90 days of the Red List update being published. The annex is the first time a UK fisheries instrument has written a Red List trigger into its own text.

What is the rule doing to enforcement in practice?

Enforcement falls to the MMO's Compliance and Enforcement Directorate, which has 84 sea-going officers and a fleet of 11 patrol vessels based in Bridlington, Whitby and Holyhead. Since 1 January 2026 the Directorate has run a risk based inspection regime under which vessels operating in the affected rectangles are inspected on average every 14 days. The October extension keeps that regime in place rather than scaling it back.

Data published by the MMO in its quarterly compliance report for Q2 2026 shows that 12 vessels have been issued with bycatch warnings in the affected fisheries so far this year, and three have been prosecuted. The most serious case, against a Peterhead registered beam trawler, resulted in a £48,000 civil penalty in August 2026 for exceeding the thornback ray cap by 1.8 percent of catch weight over two consecutive fishing trips.

What does the rule not do?

It does not close any fishery. It does not change quota, it does not adjust effort limits, and it does not impose a temporary cessation order. The instrument is narrow in scope, targeting only the three species and only the rectangles listed in the annex. The closure extension is a continuation measure, not a step change, and the MMO has been careful to frame it as such in the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum laid before Parliament on 2 October 2026.

It also does not address the underlying observer coverage gap. The MMO's own data show that observer coverage in the Celtic Sea beam trawl fishery has averaged 14 percent since January 2026, well below the 30 percent target set out in the UK Marine Strategy Framework Directive programme of measures. The determination notes the gap but does not fix it, and the October consultation paper is expected to consult on a separate statutory instrument to address it.

What happens next?

The MMO's consultation on a replacement instrument opens on 20 October 2026 and closes on 12 January 2027. The agency has stated that it intends to lay a new statutory instrument before Parliament in spring 2027, with the replacement caps taking effect on 1 July 2027. In the meantime, Determination 2026/09 holds the line.

For harbour porpoise, thornback ray and undulate ray, the named subject of a UK fisheries rule, the question is whether the holding measure is enough. ICES advice is the floor, not the ceiling. A 92 day extension that buys time for consultation is not the same as a long term cap that the fleet can plan around. The 31 December 2026 sunset is the next date that matters.