Torness: reports of illegal sea bass fishing at the power station outfall
What four official surveys recorded between 2006 and 2023, what they do and do not show, the rules then and now, and what remains unanswered.
FishingHQ is not an enforcement body and does not take reports. It explains the rules and points to the authorities that do. Find who to report to
- Where
- The shore by Torness power station, East Lothian, Scotland
- Concern
- Reported retention of sea bass above the bag limit and below the minimum size
- First published
- Last reviewed
Introduction
Torness is a nuclear power station on the East Lothian coast. Warm water leaves it through an outfall on the shore. Every survey of the area since 2006 has recorded people fishing there, and the 2006, 2011 and 2023 surveys describe anglers fishing for bass in the warm water.
Almost everything published about the fishing there comes from one kind of document: radiological habits surveys, which SEPA commissions periodically to work out how much radiation people near the station could be exposed to. Survey teams walk the shore, count who is there and ask what people catch and eat. The fishing appears because it matters to that calculation — not because anyone was investigating it.
That shapes what can be said. When a survey writes down what someone told it, that is a record of an allegation, not a finding that it happened. Every statement below is labelled with what kind of evidence it is, and nobody is identified. This is not a fishing guide to the outfall, and nothing here says where or whether you may fish there.
How each statement is labelled
- Officially documented statement
- A public body states something in its own name: a law, a rule, a published figure, or what it says it is doing.
- Direct observation
- Something a survey team or official saw and wrote down at the time, such as how many people were fishing.
- Reported claim or allegation
- Something people told a survey team or an authority, written down in an official document. Recording it does not verify it.
- Unresolved question
- Something the published evidence does not answer.
What is documented
What the survey teams saw for themselves, and what the documents state in their own name.
- Direct observation
In July 2006 the shore near the station's outfall was a popular place to fish for bass, in the warm water the station discharges. The survey team describes the anglers as mainly local people and visitors staying nearby.
Recorded by: Cefas survey team, for SEPA · When: July 2006
Source: Radiological Habits Survey: Torness, 2006, Section 4.1, printed page 16; section 4.4, printed page 18.
- Direct observation
In 2011 the shelving rocky shore directly east of the station was very popular with anglers fishing for bass in the warm water near the outfall. The 2011 survey contains no allegation of illegal fishing, undersized fish or nets.
Recorded by: Cefas survey team, for SEPA · When: 29 June to 13 July 2011
Source: Radiological Habits Survey: Torness, 2011, Section 4.1, page 26 of 57; section 4.4, page 30 of 57.
- Direct observation
During the 2016 survey's school-holiday visit, 12 people were counted fishing from the spillway area, along with one walker and ten dog walkers.
Recorded by: SEPA survey team (University of Stirling) · When: May and August 2016
Source: Radiological Habits Survey: Torness 2016, Appendix A8.6, printed pages 164 to 165.
- Direct observation
The 2023 survey counted 15 people fishing by the spillway outside the school-holiday period and ten within it.
Recorded by: SEPA survey team · When: 2023 (see the note on dates)
Source: Radiological Habits Survey: Torness 2023, Appendix A5.6, printed pages 252 to 253.
- Officially documented statement
The Marine Directorate publishes counts of the fixed penalty notices it issues. In the category that covers unlicensed and hobby fishing, including breaches of the recreational bass rules, it lists four notices across Scotland between 25 May 2020 and 30 June 2026: one in the second half of 2022, two in the second half of 2023 and one in the second half of 2025. The list gives no locations.
Recorded by: Scottish Government, Marine Directorate
Source: Marine and fisheries compliance: list of fixed penalty notices, Yearly pages, Unlicensed/Hobby fishing row; explanatory note 7.
Evidence timeline
Timeline
Survey fieldwork, publications and rule changes, in date order. A report is often published years after its fieldwork.
- Survey fieldwork
- Rule change
- Document not obtained
- Report published
- FishingHQ review
· Survey fieldwork
First habits survey at Torness
Cefas surveys the coast for SEPA. Bass fishing at the outfall is popular; two anglers claim very large annual catches, and the survey is told most bass are sold on.
· Survey fieldwork
Second survey: the fishing, and no allegation
The shore east of the station is very popular with bass anglers. The 2011 report records no allegation about what anyone kept. It was published in 2013.
· Survey fieldwork
Third survey: catch below the recommended size reported
Twelve people are counted fishing in the school holidays. The survey is told many keep large quantities of catch below the recommended size, and that one person sets nets.
· Rule change
One bass per session
The 2016 survey notes a European rule limiting recreational anglers to one bass per session from this date.
· Document not obtained
Police Scotland report to East Lothian Council
A quarterly police report goes to the council's scrutiny committee. It is understood to discuss Torness and a proposed byelaw, but FishingHQ could not obtain it.
· Rule change
Two bass a day, release in February and March
The recreational limit is set at two bass a day outside a February and March release period.
· Survey fieldwork
Fourth survey: illegal bass fishing reported
Fifteen and ten people are counted fishing. The survey is told some exceed the two-bass limit and keep undersized bass, and that the site is dealing with it with another party.
· Report published
SEPA publishes the 2023 survey
The report is dated November 2025, about two years after its fieldwork, and its dates disagree with each other.
· Rule change
Three bass a day
New UK regulations raise the recreational limit from two to three bass a day. The 42 cm minimum and the February and March release period stay.
· FishingHQ review
FishingHQ reads the record
Every document above is read at the pages cited, apart from the 2020 police report, which could not be obtained.
What was reported
What people told the survey teams, as the reports record it. Each is shown with what it does not establish.
- Reported claim or allegation
Two anglers told the 2006 survey that they could each catch as many as 2,000 bass a year at the outfall.
Recorded by: Cefas survey team, for SEPA, from interviews · When: July 2006
What this does not show: This is what two people said they could catch, not a measured or audited catch, and it says nothing about what they kept. The recreational bag limits that apply today did not exist in this form in 2006, and FishingHQ does not measure 2006 fishing against them.
Source: Radiological Habits Survey: Torness, 2006, Section 4.4, printed page 18.
- Reported claim or allegation
The 2006 survey was told that most of the bass caught at Torness were sold to restaurants.
Recorded by: Cefas survey team, for SEPA, from interviews · When: July 2006
What this does not show: No restaurant is identified, no sale was examined, and nothing in the survey establishes that any sale took place or was unlawful. The survey's description of who was said to buy the fish is not repeated here: it is hearsay, and it is not evidence about anyone.
Source: Radiological Habits Survey: Torness, 2006, Section 4.4, printed page 18.
- Reported claim or allegation
The 2016 survey was told that people fish there regularly, often at night with glow lights; that many keep large quantities of catch below the recommended size; and that one person lays fishing nets in the area.
Recorded by: SEPA survey team (University of Stirling), from what was reported to it · When: 2016
“many individuals fish and keep large quantities of the catch that are below the recommended size”
What this does not show: The passage is about catch in general, not bass, and it says 'recommended size' rather than a legal minimum. Nobody is identified, nothing was counted or measured, and the net report concerns one unnamed person. It records what was said to the survey, not what the survey found.
Source: Radiological Habits Survey: Torness 2016, Appendix A8.6, printed page 164.
- Reported claim or allegation
The 2023 survey was told that some people fishing near the outflow were fishing illegally for sea bass: keeping more than the two bass a day then allowed, and keeping bass below the legal minimum size.
Recorded by: SEPA survey team, from what was reported to it · When: 2023
“some individuals have been fishing near the Torness outflow pipeline and illegally fishing for sea bass”
What this does not show: An official report recording an allegation is not an official finding that it happened. The survey does not say who reported it, how often, or whether any fish were measured, and it does not say that any of the people it counted were among those described.
Source: Radiological Habits Survey: Torness 2023, Section 5.3, printed page 40; Radiological Habits Survey: Torness 2023, Appendix A5.6, printed page 252.
The proposed byelaw
Status: outcome not yet established.
- Unresolved question
A Police Scotland quarterly scrutiny report for July to September 2020 went to East Lothian Council's Police, Fire and Community Safety Scrutiny Committee on 12 November 2020. Earlier research identified it as describing partnership work on illegal bass fishing at Torness and a proposed local byelaw. FishingHQ could not obtain a copy: the council's download address no longer works and no archived copy was found. What it says is therefore not established here.
Recorded by: FishingHQ
Source: Police Scotland Scrutiny Report: The Lothians and Scottish Borders, Q2 2020/21, Whole document (not obtained).
- Unresolved question
Whether a byelaw or other local restriction on fishing at Torness was formally proposed, and if so whether it was approved, rejected or dropped, has not been established. FishingHQ found no published restriction, and found no published decision either way.
Recorded by: FishingHQ
Source: Police Scotland Scrutiny Report: The Lothians and Scottish Borders, Q2 2020/21, Whole document (not obtained).
FishingHQ does not say a byelaw was approved, and does not say one was rejected. Neither is shown by anything that could be read.
The bass rules, then and now
Read from the law on 26 October 2026. Each period's fishing is described against the rules of that period; the 2006 and 2011 surveys predate the recreational bag limits, and FishingHQ does not judge them against today's.
- Officially documented statement
Since 27 February 2026 recreational anglers in the sea area that includes the East Lothian coast may keep no more than three bass per day in January and from 1 April to 31 December, must release every bass from 1 February to 31 March, may keep none under 42 cm, and may not use fixed nets to catch or keep bass.
Recorded by: UK legislation, which extends to Scotland
Source: Council Regulation (EU) 2020/123, Article 10: measures on European seabass fisheries, Article 10(5), version from 27 February 2026; The Sea Fisheries (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/105), Regulation 2(2); Recreational fishing: salmon and recreational fisheries policy, Sea angling.
- Officially documented statement
From 1 April 2023 until 26 February 2026 the limit was two bass per day outside the February and March release period, with the same 42 cm minimum. The 2023 survey's 'two sea bass per individual' was the limit in force when it was written.
Recorded by: UK legislation
Source: Council Regulation (EU) 2020/123, Article 10: measures on European seabass fisheries, Article 10(5), versions at 1 June 2023 and 1 June 2025.
- Officially documented statement
The 2016 survey notes that a European rule from 1 July 2016 limited recreational anglers to one bass per fishing session.
Recorded by: SEPA survey report
Source: Radiological Habits Survey: Torness 2016, Section 5.4, printed page 31.
- Officially documented statement
The recreational bass rules are written for ICES sea areas rather than countries. Division 4b runs down the east coasts of Scotland and England from 57°30′ north, so the East Lothian coast is inside it.
Recorded by: UK legislation
Source: Regulation (EC) No 218/2009, Annex III: ICES statistical divisions (as at 31 December 2020), Annex III, division IVb; Council Regulation (EU) 2020/123, Article 10: measures on European seabass fisheries, Article 10(5).
Recreational bass limits through the year, then and now
For anglers from the shore or a boat in the sea areas the rules cover, which include the coasts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland's west coast, and its east coast south of 57°30′ north. In every period, any bass under 42 cm goes back, and no bass may be taken with a fixed net.
2021 and 2022
Release only in December, January and February; two a day from March to November.
1 April 2023 to 26 February 2026
Release only in February and March; two a day for the rest of the year.
From 27 February 2026Current
Release only in February and March; three a day for the rest of the year.
Why the bass limits exist, and the rules by country on the European sea bass page.
What remains unknown
What did Police Scotland's report of November 2020 say about fishing at Torness?
The report is the only document identified that may describe action by authorities, and FishingHQ could not obtain it.
Who could answer: East Lothian Council, Police Scotland.
Was a byelaw or other restriction on fishing at Torness formally proposed, and what became of it?
No proposal, approval, rejection or withdrawal was found in published material.
Who could answer: East Lothian Council, Scottish Government.
What action did the site and the unnamed other party take in 2023, and with what result?
The 2023 survey says only that the matter was being dealt with.
Who could answer: Torness site operator, Police Scotland, Scottish Government Marine Directorate.
How many reports of illegal fishing at Torness have the authorities received, and in which years?
Published enforcement figures are national and carry no locations.
Who could answer: Scottish Government Marine Directorate, Police Scotland.
When exactly was the 2023 survey's fieldwork carried out?
The report gives dates in 2018 and 2023 that cannot all be right.
Who could answer: SEPA.
- Unresolved question
The 2023 survey's dates do not agree with each other. Its summary places the fieldwork in summer 2023 with a winter follow-up; its methods section gives the survey periods as two weeks in May and July 'of 2018'; another section dates the follow-up January 2023, before the summer fieldwork; and its site photographs are captioned June and August 2023. FishingHQ treats the fieldwork as 2023, as the title and summary state.
Recorded by: FishingHQ, from the report
Source: Radiological Habits Survey: Torness 2023, Summary, printed page 11; section 5.1.1, printed page 39; section 8.1.
FishingHQ has not yet asked these bodies for information. If it does, this page will say when, and what came back.
If you see illegal fishing at Torness
On the sea and shore in Scotland, report suspected breaches of the bass rules to the Scottish Government's Marine Directorate. If anyone is at risk or a crime is happening now, call 999. The station is a nuclear site: do not enter restricted areas, and do not confront anybody.
Primary sources
Every document the statements above rest on, and where in each one to look.
- Radiological Habits Survey: Torness, 2006 (Environment Report RL10/10) — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), for SEPA, 2010.
Cited at: Section 4.1, printed page 16; section 4.4, printed page 18; Section 4.4, printed page 18.
- Radiological Habits Survey: Torness, 2011 (Environment Report RL 19/13) — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), for SEPA, 2013.
Cited at: Section 4.1, page 26 of 57; section 4.4, page 30 of 57.
- Radiological Habits Survey: Torness 2016 (Report Version 2.0) — Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA); survey by the University of Stirling, 2017.
Cited at: Appendix A8.6, printed pages 164 to 165; Appendix A8.6, printed page 164; Section 5.4, printed page 31.
- Radiological Habits Survey: Torness 2023 — Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), 2025.
Cited at: Appendix A5.6, printed pages 252 to 253; Section 5.3, printed page 40; Appendix A5.6, printed page 252; Section 5.3, printed page 40; Appendix A5.6, printed page 252; Summary, printed page 11; section 5.1.1, printed page 39; section 8.1.
- Police Scotland Scrutiny Report: The Lothians and Scottish Borders, Q2 2020/21 — Police Scotland, to East Lothian Council's Police, Fire and Community Safety Scrutiny Committee (12 November 2020), 2020.
Could not be obtained. Nothing on this page relies on what it says.
- Council Regulation (EU) 2020/123, Article 10: measures on European seabass fisheries — legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives).
Cited at: Article 10(5), version from 27 February 2026; Article 10(5), versions at 1 June 2023 and 1 June 2025; Article 10(5).
- The Sea Fisheries (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/105) — legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives).
Cited at: Regulation 2(2).
- Recreational fishing: salmon and recreational fisheries policy — Scottish Government.
Cited at: Sea angling.
- Regulation (EC) No 218/2009, Annex III: ICES statistical divisions (as at 31 December 2020) — legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives).
Cited at: Annex III, division IVb.
- Marine and fisheries compliance: list of fixed penalty notices — Scottish Government, Marine Directorate.
Cited at: Yearly pages, Unlicensed/Hobby fishing row; explanatory note 7; Yearly pages; explanatory note 7.
Update log
- : First published. Four surveys read in full at the sections cited; the bass rules read in their current form and at earlier dates; the 2020 police report could not be obtained.
Corrections and right of response
No corrections have been made to this page.
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