Publication - Factsheet

Fishing vessel weekly licences: changes effective 27 February 2026

Published: 27 February 2026
Directorate: Marine Directorate
Topic: Marine and fisheries

Scottish fishing vessel licence variations announced on 27 February 2026.

Part of

Fishing vessel weekly licence variations

Edible Crab MCRS increase licence condition change in English waters: South-West Area

Producer Organisation/Non -Producer Organisation Group

Type of licence

Licence condition(s) text amendment

Effective date

All licences and all groups

AU & AUP

Section 10 In all English waters south of 52˚0’0” N and west of 2˚56’78” W, the minimum conservation reference size for Edible crab (Cancer Pagurus) shall be 150 mm for female crabs and 160 mm for male crabs.

All Edible crabs shall be measured, as the maximum width of the carapace, perpendicular to the antero-posterior midline of the carapace (as per technical conservation 2019/1214, Annex 4).

Section 6 In all English waters south of 52˚0’0” N and west of 2˚56’78” W, the minimum conservation reference size for Edible crab (Cancer Pagurus) shall be 150 mm for female crabs and 160 mm for male crabs.

All Edible crabs shall be measured, as the maximum width of the carapace, perpendicular to the antero-posterior midline of the carapace (as per technical conservation 2019/1214, Annex 4).

01 March 2026

Lobster MCRS increase licence condition change in English waters South-West Area

Producer Organisation/Non -Producer Organisation Group

Type of licence

Licence condition(s) text amendment

Effective date

All licences and all groups

AU & AUP

Section 10 In English waters west of 2° 56.78′ W and south of 52° 0 N, the minimum conservation reference size for European lobster (Homarus gammarus) shall be 90 mm.

In the rest of English waters, west of 2° 56.78′ W and north of 52° 0 N, as well as east of 2° 56.78′ W, the minimum conservation reference size for European lobster (Homarus gammarus) shall be 88 mm.

All European lobsters shall be measured as the length of the carapace, parallel to the midline, from the back of either eye socket to the distal edge of the carapace (as per Regulation (EU) 2019/1214, Annex IV).

Section 6 In English waters west of 2° 56.78′ W and south of 52° 0 N, the minimum conservation reference size for European lobster (Homarus gammarus) shall be 90 mm.

01 March 2026

Cod Recovery: Fishing restrictions in the Firth of Clyde

Producer Organisation/Non -Producer Organisation Group

Type of licence

Licence condition(s) text amendment

Effective date

All licences and all groups

AU & AUP

Section 2.10 All UK licenced fishing vessels are prohibited from fishing in the Firth of Clyde (all species - sea and shell fish) unless they have landed any recorded quantity of sea or shell fish from that area on at least one occasion between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2025.

Firth of Clyde being the area enclosed to the landward side of coordinates:

55° 00.000’ north latitude and 005° 10.120’ west longitude,
55° 00.000’ north latitude and 005° 21.000’ west longitude,
55° 17.962’ north latitude and 005° 47.914’ west longitude.

Where a vessel is operating under the authority of the Scottish Ministers for the purpose of scientific investigation, an exemption may be granted by the Scottish Ministers.

Section 2.7 All UK licenced fishing vessels are prohibited from fishing in the Firth of Clyde (all species - sea and shell fish) unless they have landed any recorded quantity of sea or shell fish from that area on at least one occasion between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2025.

Firth of Clyde being the area enclosed to the landward side of coordinates:

55° 00.000’ north latitude and 005° 10.120’ west longitude,
55° 00.000’ north latitude and 005° 21.000’ west longitude,
55° 17.962’ north latitude and 005° 47.914’ west longitude.

Where a vessel is operating under the authority of the Scottish Ministers for the purpose of scientific investigation, an exemption may be granted by the Scottish Ministers.

01 March 2026

Removal of condition: Spurdog

Producer Organisation/Non -Producer Organisation Group

Type of licence

Licence condition(s) text amendment

Effective date

All licences and all groups

AU & AUP

Remove section 2.21.1 – “It is prohibited to retain, trans-ship or land specimens over 100cm in length as measured from the end of the tail to the tip of the snout.”

Remove Section 2.16.1 – “It is prohibited to retain, trans-ship or land specimens over 100cm in length as measured from the end of the tail to the tip of the snout.”

01 March 2026

NS mackerel (AU category)

Please follow the following link for advice for the upcoming mackerel season, Fishing - North Sea mackerel 2026: Scottish 10m and under vessels (AU licence category) - gov.scot

Fishing vessel quota limits tables: 2026 - showing the quota limits applicable to 10m and under and over 10m non-sector vessels.

Fisheries closures table: 2026 - showing all fisheries closures, by group, for Scottish fishing licences.

Fishing Vessel Licencing

The Marine Directorate is currently reviewing the Fishing Vessel Licensing process. As part of this review, we are exploring opportunities to make the licensing process more efficient, seamless, and user‑friendly for all applicants.

We would be grateful if you could take a few moments to complete the anonymous survey linked below. Your insights and experiences are valuable and will help inform the development of future improvements to the licensing process.

No personal information is collected, and your responses cannot be linked to you or any applications you may submit.

This survey will be closing on the Friday 20th March.

Thank you for taking the time to support this work

Link: Fishing Vessel Licencing - Survey

New guidance for UK vessels that land into EU ports

We have been notified that there are some UK flagged vessels attempting to land into EU ports that have not been following the correct requirements. We have contacted the EU for further information and to ensure that landings can continue into EU Member State Ports.

https://fishtraceship.campaign.gov.uk/faqs-v2/

Urgent Notice to Fishers

From 10 January 2026, exporters together with the wider supply chain, will be required to provide additional information for seafood leaving the UK.

As a licensed fisherman, these changes DO affect you unless you sell an exempt species. If you have not done so already, we are now urgently advising you to ensure you are compliant with the new requirements by the 8 January in advance of the upcoming deadline. This ensures you or your business can continue to trade efficiently.

You will also receive another version of this letter if you are a registered Fish Export Service user.

Reminder: What is changing

These are the changes which may not all be relevant to you, but it is important you are aware of them.

new data fields on Catch Certificates (including fishing trip start date, gear type, area fished, transport details).
a new section to the Storage Document for you to provide details for the arrival of the fish produce to the UK will be released on November 20. The Storage Document will be renamed to Non-Manipulation Document in January 2026
the requirement to produce a Processing Statement for any seafood processed on land in the UK, and new weights information for the Processing Statement.

The FES system has now been updated with changes required to comply with the new regulations when they come into force on 10 January. There will be one final update on 8 January to make it mandatory to provide this new information and to include this information on the UK documents.

If you land your catch and sell within the UK, you must pass on this additional information to the buyer so it can be passed through the supply chain.

If you land directly into a country that requires a catch certificate, including Northern Ireland for GB vessels, you must provide this additional information from January 2026.

These and more detail about all the changes can be viewed on our campaign site. Visit https://fishtraceship.campaign.gov.uk or use the QR code below and access links to Guidance, FAQs and engagement webinars.

We have also produced a new series of step-by-step videos to help guide you through the changes and created example labelling templates for each stage of the supply chain.

What you need to do

Please understand what is changing even if you think you are not directly affected as you may not be able to sell on your produce without the appropriate documentation information.