Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

Regulator: Cornwall IFCA. Always check its own page before you keep a fish.

• Bass: minimum size 42cm. Catch and release only from 1 February to 31 March. In January and from 1 April to 31 December you may keep 3 bass per angler per day. No bass may be taken with fixed or drift nets. These rules apply from the shore and from boats.
• Bass nursery areas: Cornwall IFCA says six areas in Cornwall ban fishing for bass from a boat, and using sandeel bait from a boat. The national order lists the Fowey, the Fal, the Percuil and the Helford (30 April to 1 January), and the Camel inside a line from Stepper Point to Pentire Point (30 April to 1 December). The Plymouth Rivers area, which takes in the Tamar, is closed to boat bass fishing all year. Shore fishing is not covered.
• Cornwall IFCA minimum sizes other than bass come from byelaws inherited from the old Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee. They apply to anglers, but not everywhere: mainly not in some rivers and estuaries. Ask Cornwall IFCA if you plan to keep fish from an estuary.
• Cockles taken from Cornish rivers and estuaries must not pass through a 20mm gap.
• Crabs and lobsters from a boat: no more than 5 a day in total of lobster, crawfish, edible crab and spider crab, and no more than 2 of those may be lobster or crawfish. From the shore there is no number limit, but sizes apply and berried or V-notched lobsters must go back.
• Nets: since January 2018 it is an offence to use a net to take sea fish in any Cornish river or estuary, or to carry one on a boat while fishing there. Landing nets and hand-worked nets up to 4 square metres are exempt, as are permitted sandeel seines and ebb nets. In nine coastal areas a fixed net's headline must be at least 3m below the surface.
• Spearfishing with any projectile is banned from dusk to dawn and when using an aqualung. Spearfishers must keep to the same sizes and bass rules.
• Tope may be caught for sport but cannot be landed. Angel shark, white skate and shad are protected and must go back. Giant goby and Couch's goby must not be taken or disturbed.
• Cornwall IFCA has no byelaw on bait digging, but local harbour byelaws may ban it, for example around moorings.
• Isles of Scilly have their own regulator, the Isles of Scilly IFCA. Lobster minimum is 90mm and crawfish 110mm carapace. Recreational potting needs a permit and a tag on every pot (£3 each), with a maximum of 6 pots per person. Scilly IFCA has no fish size byelaw of its own and points anglers to national minimum sizes, so check locally for fish sizes on Scilly.

Rules change, usually each spring. Where a rule says check locally, ask the regulator or harbour office before you fish.