‘Sea fish’ are species that are made subject to fisheries legislation. This definition includes only fish, crustacea (including peeler and soft shell crabs) and molluscs (including mussels and winkles). There is a public right to collect these species for commercial sale and for personal use from public sea fisheries throughout the UK, subject to legislative controls. Sea fish may be used for bait or for food (their end use is irrelevant in legal terms). The right to fish for these species may be controlled or regulated by fisheries legislation. Fisheries bylaws may not extinguish the public right to take ‘seafish’, they only regulate it (and thereby seek to protect the public right by ensuring that the resource is not destroyed). Regulating fishing rights in this way, whether by closed seasons, minimum landing sizes, quotas, closed areas or other measures, does not require the regulating body to compensate fishermen for any loss of catches or other costs imposed by the introduction of such measures. This is because all commercial, recreational, full time and part time fishermen are treated equally.

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