A new bye-law passed by the Isle of Man Government which excludes much of the Scottish scallop fleet from Manx waters. This decision of the Isle of Man has affected the Scottish scallop industry which has lost at a stroke the greater part of its access to an economically essential and traditional fishing ground.
According to the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation the new bye-law is nothing but blatant that the science associated with the decision only looked at the effect of already decided exclusion measures and did not explore the issue of continued sustainability. The new law actually fixes only the economic sustainability of the Manx industry by excluding the majority of the Scottish fleet, which for decades has been part of the fishing activity.
John Hermse, secretary of the Scallop Association, said that the fishermen do not make rules or the law. He added that the association had made it crystal clear to the Scottish Government right from the beginning in April that this regulation was all about walling out the Scottish fleet and not about stock sustainability. Despite offers on sustainability measures, nothing has changed and there is no way to describe the current situation other than as a failure of support, says Hermse.
