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Its an offence to introduce and keep controlled non-native fish or shellfish without a licence.

When you need a licence

You need a licence to:

• introduce non-native fish into inland waters
• farm non-native species (or those not found locally)
• keep or introduce controlled non-native species of:
  • freshwater fish
  • crayfish
  • lobsters

You also need permission to:

• move fish from or to an inland water (fishery, rivers, canals, drains and stillwaters)
• trap crayfish in the wild
• import live fish and shellfish

You may need more than 1 licence or permission before you can introduce and keep the fish or shellfish.

All licences and permissions are free.

You may also need a permit to allow certain activities for species covered by the requirements of the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation.

You can apply for a permit or a licence from Natural England (NE) for England or Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for Wales.

Permit to introduce and keep non-native fish in inland waters

You must get a permit to introduce and keep non-native fish in inland waters (fisheries, canals, rivers, managed lakes, etc). To obtain a permit in England you will need to contact the Environment Agency (EA) and for a permit in Wales you will need to contact NRW.

Authorisation to farm non-native fish and shellfish

To farm non-native fish or shellfish, or those not found locally, you need to apply for a permit to introduce keep and farm.

• ASR permit application AW1 application form

• ASR permit as required by Alien Species Regulations

You must also apply for authorisation to farm Fish, shellfish or crustacean farm authorisation

Licence to keep non-native freshwater fish (ILFA Licence)

Get a licence to introduce and keep controlled non-native freshwater fish (not for farms or inland waters)

Application to introduce and keep non-native fish

The legislation (ILFA fish licence)

When you dont need an ILFA licence

You dont need a licence to keep:

• common carp (Cyprinus carpio)
• goldfish (Carassius auratus)
• ide or orfe (Leuciscus idus)
• rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, other than anadromous steelhead)

You dont need a licence to keep the following species in ornamental wholesale and retail premises, indoor aquariums or garden ponds (discrete bodies of water no bigger than an acre, on private residential premises with no risk of fish escaping into the wild):

• grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)
• sturgeon (Acipenser and Huso)

You dont need a licence to keep certain species in an indoor aquarium or if kept for ornamental (including trade, zoos and public aquariums), scientific research or conservation purposes.

Freshwater fish that can be kept for ornamental, scientific research or conservation purposes (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 58.6 KB)

Licence to introduce and keep non-native crayfish

If you wish to introduce hold, keep or sell any of the crayfish species listed below you will need to contact NE for England and NRW for Wales to get a licence:

• signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus)
• spiny cheek crayfish (Orconectes limosus)
• red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii)
• virile crayfish (Orconectes virilis)
• marbled crayfish (Procambarus fallax f. virginalis (Procambarus virginalis)

To introduce and keep any other species of crayfish, please apply to the FHI using form CRAY2

The legislation ILFA crayfish licence

When you dont need a crayfish licence

You dont need a licence to keep:

• native or white clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes)
• red-clawed crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) in indoor aquaria for ornamental use

You need a licence from NE in England and from NRW in Wales to take white clawed crayfish.

Licence to introduce and keep non-native lobsters

Apply for a lobster deposit licence

Application to introduce and keep non-native lobsters (lobster deposit licence)

You need a lobster deposit licence to introduce and keep the following types of lobster within 1 mile of tidal waters:

• American or Canadian lobster (Homarus americanus)
• European lobster (Homarus gammarus) (when kept with American or Canadian lobsters)

The order Lobster deposit

Permission to move fish to or from a fishery

If you want to introduce any fish or fish spawn into an inland water, you need a permit from the EA. To get this your fish may have to pass a health check.

Import live fish or shellfish

You need permission to import live fish and shellfish from the 