Intertidal hand-gathering of shellfish in Northern Ireland: A call for evidence

Overview

Thank you for taking the time to consider this consultation paper. The Department welcomes your views on the development of management measures for intertidal hand-gathering of shellfish in Northern Ireland. This activity is currently unregulated and as a result, the Department holds limited information on the commercial scale of this fishery. This consultation outlines potential management measures that are intended to protect intertidal shellfish stocks from unsustainable exploitation and to provide protection for habitats and species that could be damaged or disturbed by intertidal shellfish gathering.  The Department is also making a call for evidence to inform the socio-economic impact assessments.

The consultation will last for 12 weeks, commencing on 9th June 2022.

Please ensure that your response reaches us before the closing date of 1st September 2022.

What happens next

DAERA will publish a summary of responses following completion of the consultation process. We are unable to reply individually to the points you may raise as part of your reply.

Your response, and all other responses to the consultation, may be disclosed on request. The Department can only refuse to disclose information in exceptional circumstances. Before you submit your response, please read the paragraphs below on the confidentiality of consultations and this will provide you with guidance on the legal position about any information submitted by you in response to this consultation.

Section 8(e) of the Data Protection Act 2018 permits processing of personal data when necessary for an activity that supports or promotes democratic engagement. Information provided by respondents to this stakeholder engagement exercise will be held and used for the purposes of the administration of this current exercise and subsequently disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation. For more information and to view the DAERA Privacy Statement please go to: https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/daera-privacy-statement-document

The FOI Act gives the public a right of access to any information held by a public authority, namely, the Department in this case. This right of access to information includes information provided in response to a consultation. The Department cannot automatically consider as confidential, information supplied to it in response to a consultation. However, it does have the responsibility to decide whether any information provided by you in response to this consultation, including information about your identity should be made public or be treated as confidential. If you do not wish information about your identity to be made public please include an explanation in your response including any harm you believe such a disclosure might cause.

This means that information provided by you in response to the consultation is unlikely to be treated as confidential, except in very particular circumstances. The Lord Chancellor’s Code of Practice on the FOI Act provides that:

• The Department should only accept information from third parties in confidence if it is necessary to obtain that information in connection with the exercise of any of the Department’s functions and it would not otherwise be provided;

• The Department should not agree to hold information received from third parties “in confidence” which is not confidential in nature, acceptance by the Department of confidentiality provisions must be for good reasons, capable of being justified to the Information Commissioner.

For further information about confidentiality of responses please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, or visit the ICO Website.