King scallop changes delayed by a week

Sat, 06 Jan 2018

Changes to the way fishing vessels declare their king scallop catches have been delayed by a week.

The Government had planned to make it a licence condition that all vessels had to report into Manx ports for possible catch inspections from Monday.

However, the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, which is responsible for the Island's fisheries, will hold further talks with the Scottish Government to discuss the issue.

DEFA insists the Island is committed to rigorously enforcing daily catch limits, and that there have been concerns over the accuracy of catch reporting since the king scallop season opened in November.

It's estimated that the king scallop industry is worth £12m to the Manx economy.