The eastern Menai Strait is the most important aquaculture site in all of Wales, and the single largest mussel farming area in the whole of the UK.\u00a0 The success of this area is due to the unique natural environment that is perfect for mussels; and also the legal protection (known as a \u201cFishery Order\u201d) that was established in 1962 and which allows local mussel farmers to cultivate mussels here without the fear that they will be stolen by others. Hand gathering of wild mussels within the area is also covered by the Order.<\/p>\n
Since devolution, the mussel fishery in the Menai Strait has been managed by the Menai Strait Fishery Order Management Association (MSFOMA), which was granted these powers by the Welsh Government in 2010.<\/p>\n
MSFOMA have worked with Welsh Government to ensure that when the old 1962 Fishery Order expired at midnight on the 1st of April 2022 it would be replaced by a new Fishery Order, to help Wales to maintain its leading place in UK aquaculture, and to secure long-term jobs and businesses in the local economy.<\/p>\n
The new Order came into force on Saturday the 2nd of April 2022.\u00a0 It can be downloaded from the UK Government legislation website here<\/a>.\u00a0 As before, the controls under this Fishery Order only apply to shellfish farming.\u00a0 It does not impose any new restrictions or controls on other day-to-day activities in the area.\u00a0 For shellfish famers this new Fishery Order is vital for their future.\u00a0 For everyone else in the area it will be very much “business as usual”.<\/p>\n The map below shows the extent of the new Fishery Order and the location of the “designated several fishery area” that has been established by MSFOMA with the Minister’s consent within the Fishery Order area.\u00a0 Mussel farming will only take place within this “designated area”.<\/p>\n