Damage by fishing in the UK's Lyme Bay - A problem of regulation or ownership?

Since last year, fisheries management has undergone serious analysis under the lens of the Marine White Paper. A change in the regulatory framework has been proposed, with the expansion of the jurisdictions of Sea Fisheries Committees, marine spatial planning and Marine Conservation Zones. This regulatory approach ignores developments elsewhere. In the European Union, the Directorate for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs has just finished a consultation exercise on rights based fisheries management. At a national level nearly 20 years of fisheries regulation in the Northern Territories of Australia have been declared invalid for 5,000 km of coastal and inter-tidal waters because the Fisheries Act 1988 (NT) failed to take into consideration pre-existing native title rights. The message is loud and clear, the legislators drafting the Marine Bill must take into consideration the rights and responsibilities of the parties involved in fisheries, if the Bill is to make a significant difference to management and key into developments in European and the common law. This article will look at the current dispute between fishermen and environmentalists on the management of Lyme Bay, from the perspective of property rights. It focuses on the competing rights of commercial scallop dredgers and the Crown Estate and assesses whether the rights of the fishermen extend to damaging the sea floor and attached marine life, and if not whether the Crown Estate should take action to protect its property