Welcome to the Environment Agency’s online consultation hub

We consulted on the proposed new regulations that are designed to protect salmon and sea trout stocks in the River Severn as well as those stocks on the River Usk and Wye which contribute adult salmon that support the Severn estuary net fishery. We provided information on the salmon stock assessment, preferred fishery management options, technical case. Responses could be submitted online, by email or by post.

The public consultation on the new proposed regulations ran for a period of one month from March to April 2021.

The consultation resulted in 111 representations being made directly to the Environment Agency and Defra. Of those representations 40 fully supported all the proposed measures, while 58* objected to one or more elements of the proposed measures. We also received 10 “Don’t know” and 2 “not answered” to all elements, these are not included as either objection or support.

(*an objection response received through the online consultation portal and as a written objection will count as 1 objection overall.)

The response document aims to reply to the objections and representations raised through the public consultation process. The document draws on all representations received and is intended to clarify specific data used and decisions taken in formulating the proposed new regulations. It was circulated on 14 May 2021 to all those who responded.

Next steps

The final decision regarding the implementation of the NLO and rod and net fishery byelaw measures will be made by the Fisheries Minister, the Right Hon Victoria Prentis MP, after full consideration of the technical case, consultation responses and legal obligations relating to statutory conservation designations. 

The Minister has noted that upon receiving the package of measures submitted to Defra officials by the EA, she will weigh up all the facts, the objections received, support for the schemes and both economic and conservation assessments. She will then decide whether the measures are appropriate, and an announcement will be made on the outcome of that decision.

We asked for your opinions and comments on the potential options to extend the beach netting fishing for sea trout in Yorkshire and the North East.

We received 562 online responses to the consultation. 93% opposed an extension of the current netting season and 7% were in favour.

Having reviewed the evidence and all consultation responses we find it is not appropriate to recommend an extension to the sea trout netting season at this time. 

The consultation on the application to accept low level radioactive wastes at the Port Clarence landfill site took place from 20 September 2019 to 31 January 2020. It provided the opportunity for the public, professional bodies and stakeholders, to provide comments on the application.

We have received 2329 responses to the consultation from various stakeholders. There were only 13 responses in support of the application. The responses included various comments and questions which have been summarised in the Summary of consultation responses document which can be found below.

We are currently assessing the application and the consultation responses will be considered as part of this assessment. We expect a decision on the application to be made sometime in 2021 and will run a new consultation at that stage.