Publication - Factsheet

Fishing vessel weekly licences: changes effective 9 January 2026

Published: 2 January 2026
Directorate: Marine Directorate
Topic: Marine and fisheries

Scottish fishing vessel licence variations announced on 9 January 2026.

Part of

Fishing vessel weekly licence variations

Seasonal Closures : Cod

Producer Organisation/Non -Producer Organisation Group

Type of licence

Licence condition(s) text amendment

Effective date

All 10 metre and over groups

All under 10 metre and under groups

AU & AUP

Update to Section 5, Seasonal Cod Closures:

Long hole - no change.

Coral Edge – Closure date change to: “from 0001 hours on 1 December”.

Papa Bank – no change.

Stanhope Ground – no change.

Foula Deeps – designation change to Foula Deeps A.

New closure – insert Foula Deeps B.

The vessel to which this licence relates, for all gear types excluding pelagic gears (purse seine and trawl), may not fish in the "Foula Deeps B" from 0001 hours on 1 January until 2359 hours on 15 March. For the purposes of this condition the closed area is the area of waters bounded by sequentially joining the following geographical coordinates:

60° 21.0’N - 02° 05'W

60° 22.0’N - 02° 27'W

60° 06.0'N - 02° 27'W

60° 06.0'N - 02° 05'W

East Fair Isle – Revised set of co-ordinates, now:

59° 40'N - 01° 23'W

59° 40'N - 01° 13'W

59° 30'N - 01° 20'W

59° 00'N - 01° 20'W

59° 00'N - 01° 40'W

59° 10'N - 01° 40'W

59° 10'N - 01° 28'W

59° 30'N - 01° 28'W

59° 40'N - 01° 23'W

Egersund Bank - Closure date change to: “from 0001 hours on 1 December”.

West Bank - Closure date change to: “from 0001 hours on 1 January”.

Revet - Closure date change to: “from 0001 hours on 1 January”.

Rabareren - Closure date change to: “from 0001 hours on 1 January”.

North West Sule – no change.

New closure – insert Krogbund

The vessel to which this licence relates may not fish in the "Krogbund" from 0001 hours on 01 January until 2359 hours on 31 March. For the purposes of this condition the closed area is the area of waters bounded by sequentially joining the following geographical coordinates:

56° 56.0'N, 6° 25.0'E

56° 47.0'N, 6° 25.0'E

56° 47.0'N, 6° 55.0'E

56° 56.0'N, 6° 55.0'E

New closure - insert Lille Fiskerbanke

The vessel to which this licence relates may not fish in the "Lille Fiskerbanke" from 0001 hours on 01 January until 2359 hours on 31 March. For the purposes of this condition the closed area is the area of waters bounded by sequentially joining the following geographical coordinates:

56° 50.0'N, 6° 08.0'E

56° 50.0'N, 5° 52.0'E

56° 38.0'N, 5° 52.0'E

56° 38.0'N, 6° 08.0'E

11 January 2026

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.

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 do I 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.

Unsubscribe?

If you don’t want to hear more about FES, please email UKIUUSLO@marinemanagement.org.uk to be removed from future mailings.

NEW:

Labels – two label examples have been loaded up on to the FTS site – one under the Fishermen section and the other under Exporters.

Fishermen - Fish, Trace, Ship

Exporters - Fish, Trace, Ship

Regular key links include: