Local oystermen have received a double boost in recent weeks, with continued exemption from EU licensing and new EU protected status.

Fal oyster fishermen will not be required to submit to EU Marine Fisheries Licensing legislation, following a postponement by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The Port of Truro Oyster Fishery was granted an exemption to the legislation, originally passed in 1992, which would require fishermen to purchase licenses and meet stringent safety standards. This is because according to UK law, the legislation is not applicable to unpowered boats under ten metres in length, as traditionally used in the fishery.

Oysterman Chris Ranger said the changes would have been a threat to the fishery, especially on top of catches of smaller oysters and plans to dredge the docks, which would upset the river sediment.

He said: “We would have lost a few boats and some skills. We’re on the way to getting Protected Designation of Origin status so losing those boats would have been a great shame.” However he also said: “The government were going to give us a free licence, so it wasn’t such a catastrophe,” and the real costs would have been in aligning with EU requirements.

Mr Ranger said he believed that the legislation was mainly targeted at anglers and people fishing with kayaks, and that the Fal oystermen with their unpowered boats would simply have been caught up as they are already a registered group.

The Fal oyster also received Protected Designation of Origin status, meaning only fishermen in the Truro Port Fishery area, using traditional methods, and fishing between October 1 and March 31 use the name for their oysters.

Andy Brigden, maritime manager at Cornwall Council, said: “This is something that’s been bubbling away for years, and there’s the hope that by recognising the status of the Fal oyster, in time it will be a way for the dredgermen to get more money for their product.”

“At the moment it is more advantageous for the oyster merchants, because it’s a way of selling the oyster but also the way it was caught, the romance of it. They’re selling a story.”