Fishery registration in England and Wales

Registering my fishery

Under new legislation all waters from which fish are removed and waters into which fish are stocked - excluding rivers and canals - must be registered with the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI) at Cefas. From the 1 August 2009, all unregistered waters are not issued removal or stocking consents from the Environment Agency.

Waters that require registration include fisheries and certain cropping or harvested waters that have a low risk of disease spread.

Apply for fishery registration

The fishery registration process requires a single named person - the owner, lease holder, operator or manager - to take responsibility for the waters. In the event of a fish mortality that person, by law, must provide all reasonable help and access to the FHI. You are also responsible for reporting any suspicion of a notifiable disease. Complete one of the following forms to register:

• For fishery registration use the RW1 form.
• For registering low risk cropping and harvesting waters (referred to as aquatic animal holdings) use the RW2 form.

Completing the registration forms

When completing your form please include a map of the waters. This will greatly speed up your registering process.

Please use one form per complex of waters. For angling clubs - applying for many separate waters - the FHI accept one completed RW1 application form, accompanied with your membership guide book providing the following information is included:

• name of the water(s)
• species held
• size of each water and their exact location (preferably with an ordinance survey grid reference). We prefer printed maps incidcating their location.