Research and analysis

Strategic environmental assessment environmental report - non-technical summary

Published 16 December 2025

Applies to England

Non-technical summary  

The cockle fisheries management plan (FMP) has been prepared to meet the requirements of the Fisheries Act 2020. It sets out the policies and proposed actions Defra will use to manage cockle fishing activity, so that stocks are harvested within sustainable levels. Alongside these actions, the cockle FMP sets out additional actions to help support the wider social, economic, and environmental aspects of the fishery.  

This environmental report has been produced in accordance with The Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (SEA Regulations 2004). The following issues (from Schedule 2, paragraph 6 of the SEA Regulations 2004) were scoped into the assessment:   

• biodiversity  

• fauna  

• flora  

• geology and sediments (soil)  

• water  

• climatic factors  

• cultural heritage  

• landscape and seascape  

This assessment focuses on how the policies and actions in the cockle FMP could give rise to both significant positive and negative environmental effects. The findings of this assessment have been used to inform the development of the FMP.  

The assessment was conducted against a baseline that primarily used existing evidence on the state of the marine environment. This evidence is set out in the updated UK Marine Strategy Part 1, published in 2019. Additional sources of evidence were used to establish the status of the environment in relation to issues, such as climatic factors, not covered by the UK Marine Strategy (UK MS). The historical impact of fishing activity on the marine environment has been considered part of the baseline. Our assessment used the best available evidence at the present time to reach a judgement on the environmental effects of the cockle FMP.  

This report sets out those plans, programmes, and environmental protection goals, both international and domestic, that Defra consider relevant to the cockle FMP. 

This report considers and acknowledges the existing environmental effects of cockle fishing using dredges and hand gathering, on those issues scoped into this assessment, in relation to:  

• marine protected areas (MPAs) 

• the UK MS descriptors of good environmental status (GES) for the wider marine environment 

• climatic factors 

The potential positive and negative environmental effects of the cockle FMP’s policies and actions alone and in-combination have also been assessed.  

This strategic environmental assessment (SEA) concluded that current evidence shows the cockle fishery has a limited impact on the marine environment beyond the cockle population itself. No significant issues in relation to MPAs were identified. The most commercially viable cockle fisheries are prosecuted in MPAs, within IFCA (inshore fisheries and conservation authority) districts. Therefore, management pathways are already in place to manage stocks and mitigate effects on designated MPA features. As cockle fishing activity occurs within protected areas the impact on the marine environment beyond MPA boundaries is limited. 

Despite the limited impact of the cockle fishery on the marine environment, the cockle FMP sets out actions to: 

• support existing management pathways 

• improve the evidence base to better understand the wider ecological considerations of cockle fishing 

The assessment of likely negative effects identified a low risk of significant adverse effects on the environment from implementing individual policies and actions. The policies and actions will, where appropriate, be developed to avoid any potential negative effects identified by the assessment process. The environmental effects of implementing the cockle FMP policies and actions will also be monitored to identify unforeseen adverse effects at an early stage. This is so that appropriate remedial action can be undertaken.

This assessment recommends that future iterations of the cockle FMP should consider:  

• how they can develop the cultural heritage of each fishery and how fisheries management can contribute to reducing potential negative interactions with marine heritage assets 

• how fisheries management can contribute to reducing potential negative interactions with submerged prehistoric landscapes or seascapes 

Read the full environmental report for the cockle FMP.