Following a wide ranging consultation with fishery interests in the Isle of Man and surrounding countries regarding the future management of the Isle of Man’s Queen Scallop fishery, the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture has published a summary of the results which is available at www.gov.im/defa . These results have been used to formulate the Sea-Fisheries (Queen Scallop Fishing) Byelaws 2013 which will be laid before the June sitting of Tynwald.
The consultation was carried out following concerns that landings of Irish Sea Queen Scallops in 2011 and 2012 were double the long term average. This is not only unsustainable for the fishery but fails to maximise the value of Queenies to the fishing industry. On the advice of the Isle of Man Queen Scallop Management Board, which includes independent fisheries scientists from Bangor University, a decision was taken to close the 2012 queen scallop season early to prevent overfishing and in doing so, created disruption to the valuable supply chain.
The new Byelaw includes a range of measures to protect the stock of Queen Scallops within the Isle of Man territorial sea whilst maximising the potential to avoid early closure of the 2013 season. The restrictions include a weekend ban on fishing for Queen Scallops and a curfew on fishing for all vessels between 1800 hours and 0600 hours. To ensure that bigger, more profitable Queenies are landed whilst juveniles are left to breed, there are changes to the fishing gear which can be used and the size of Queenies which can be landed. Vessels must also meet specific criteria in order to qualify for fishing for Queenies.
DEFA Minister Phil Gawne, MHK said: “I am grateful to all who responded to this consultation and provided insights which have helped to formulate this new Byelaw. It is not easy to balance the sometimes conflicting needs of the industry with the responsibility to ensure that stocks are managed sustainably so that this fishery flourishes for the long term. DEFA Officers will be carefully monitoring the impact that these new measures have and will consider new, more stringent measures for the 2014 fishing season if they are found not to be working. This could include setting a Total Allowable Catch, allocated to restrict the volume of Queen Scallops caught or an “entitlement” for vessels to catch queenies. I should stress that any future consideration of entitlement would not include records for fishing during the 2013 season”.
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