DEFRA has approved a new byelaw banning bottom-towed fishing gear across the Goodwin Sands, Dover to Deal and Swanscombe MCZs, right off the stretch of Kent coast this site's own coastal spots sit on

DEFRA has approved a new byelaw prohibiting the use of bottom-towed fishing gear across three Marine Conservation Zones on the Kent coast: the Goodwin Sands MCZ, the Dover to Deal MCZ, and the Swanscombe MCZ. The approval came on 16 April 2026, and the byelaw is jointly administered by the Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (KEIFCA), which covers inshore waters, and the Marine Management Organisation, which covers the offshore extent of the same zones, since the Goodwin Sands and Dover-to-Deal MCZs straddle both.

"Bottom-towed fishing gear" is the regulatory term for trawls, dredges and other equipment dragged along the seabed to catch fish and shellfish, the gear type most associated with damage to reef, sandbank and other seabed habitats that MCZs exist to protect. It is a different category of restriction from static or rod-and-line fishing, and byelaws of this kind across other English MCZs have consistently targeted towed commercial gear specifically rather than recreational angling from a boat, pier or the shore.

For readers of this site, the geography is the headline as much as the regulation itself. The Goodwin Sands and the Dover to Deal MCZ sit directly off the stretch of coast covered by this site's own Deal, Walmer and Dover spots, waters that are already popular for shore and boat sea angling rather than commercial trawling. A byelaw that removes towed gear from that seabed, if it holds up as an effective, enforced restriction, works in the same direction as anything else that protects reef structure and the fish that shelter around it, the kind of habitat that supports the cod, bass and flatfish this coastline is fished for.

The practical caveat is that this site hasn't been able to confirm the full legal text or any exemptions directly from KEIFCA's published byelaw document, only the headline scope, zones and approval date from KEIFCA's own news release. Anglers fishing this stretch shouldn't read this as a change to what they personally can or can't do with a rod, it's a restriction on commercial towed gear, not recreational sea fishing, but it's worth knowing the seabed right off Sandwich Bay's southern neighbours now has one more layer of protection than it did before April.