Kent & Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation
Authority
Kent & Essex
Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (K&EIFCA)
manages the use of sea fisheries resources in an area of over
3,412 square kilometres.
This area goes from the east end of Rye Bay in Kent to
the northern boundary of Essex on the River Stour. The up-river
boundary in the Thames includes the waters by Kent and
Thurrock, with the district boundary running from Dartford creek
(River Darent) on the south shore to Mar Dyke on the north
shore.
Kent County Council helps fund the Kent and Essex Inshore
Fisheries and Conservation Authority and appoints 3 county
councillors - Michael Harrison,
Charles Hibberd and Bryan Cope.
The area covered includes a variety of
recreational sea angling opportunities, including:
- piers and harbours
- creeks and deep-water
- estuaries and open sea
- sandy shallow beaches
- deeply shelving gravel beaches
Within these areas there is a huge variety of fin fish species
of interest to recreational sea anglers. The most common species
include bass, thornback ray, smooth hound, grey mullet, cod and
whiting.
What we do
Our duties are to:
- make sure that the exploitation of sea fisheries resources
is carried out in a sustainable way
- aim to balance the social and economic benefits of
exploiting the sea fisheries resources of the district with the
need to protect the marine environment from, or promote its
recovery from, the effects of such exploitation
- take any other steps which in the authority’s opinion are
necessary to make a contribution
to achieving sustainable development
- try to balance the different needs of people engaged
in the exploitation of sea fisheries resources in the
district.
and
- try to make sure the conservation objectives of any
Marine Conservation Zone in the district are furthered
- manage fisheries within Marine Protected Areas, Special Areas
of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and Sites of Special
Scientific Interest.