The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture have released the following statement regarding the Island’s king scallop fishery industry.

The king scallop industry is worth ?12 million to the Island’s economy and it is in the interests of all who fish Manx waters, and rely on them for an income, to ensure the long term sustainability of king scallop stocks.

The Isle of Man is committed to rigorously enforcing daily catch limits applied to vessels.

Following concerns over the accuracy of catch reporting since the season opened on 1st November, the Isle of Man Government proposed to vary licence conditions to require vessels to report into Manx ports from 8th January for possible catch inspection.

The Isle of Man Government has agreed to delay the implementation of this new licence condition by a week to allow more time for discussions with the Scottish Government.

This will allow the jurisdictions to discuss the issue and potential ways forward over the coming days.

The Isle of Man Government is pleased to be working with its Scotland counterpart over this.