UK: New Manx herring quota provides once-in-a-generation opportunity

New Manx herring quota provides ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’. A new Isle of Man herring quota that follows two years of constructive post-Brexit discussions will provide a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for the Manx fishing industry. The deal follows lengthy and productive talks between the Isle of Man and UK governments and means local fishermen can fish commercially viable quantities of herring for the first time in nearly 25 years. Fishermen had been free to catch the oily fish, which can be salted, smoked and pickled, for centuries before the EU Common Fisheries Policy introduced quotas in the 1980s. A century earlier and at its peak, the Manx herring industry was estimated to directly employ around 3,500 people with a thriving kipper industry in full swing. However, falling stocks meant Manx fishermen’s focus turned to scallops and queenies and the quota allocated by the UK fell so far that the fishery was not commercially viable. By the time the herring numbers ...