To seek approval for the extension of the current Byelaw 5 to cover the period 1st September 2009 to 31^st August 2011.

1.1 Members will be aware that when the current Byelaw 5 (Annex A) was proposed in 2005, many of the conditions embodied in the byelaw were innovative and untested. Therefore at the insistence of DEFRA, the byelaw was time limited with an expiry date of the 31^st August 2009. From that date forward, all intertidal shellfish gathering will revert to the pre 2003 levels of unrestricted fishing activity, unless there is some management intervention.

1.2 Such has been the success of the current byelaw that the main elements are to be incorporated into the proposed new powers being established for the modernised SFCs (IFCAs) in England.

1.3 It is unfortunate that IFCAs will not be active before the expiry of the current Byelaw. It had also been anticipated that the proposed Morecambe Bay Regulating Order would have been approved before the byelaw expiry date.

1.4 As an interim measure, I would suggest that the current Byelaw 5 be extended in time to a date of at least 31^st August 2011, by which time the new inshore management organisations will be operational and had sufficient time to fully review all historical byelaws.

1.5 Due to the legislative process it is not possible to merely update the current byelaw, therefore a ‘new’ byelaw will need to be ‘made’, advertised and achieve Ministerial approval.

1.6 The proposed new Byelaw 5 (Annex B) does not change any of the criteria of the current byelaw, it merely seeks to extend the time period over which it operates.