Strong start to Manx queenie fishing season

The Isle of Man queenie fishery, which for 2024 looks set to trawl only, reached the halfway stage at the end of July, with 45% of the 726t quota taken by the end of the fourth week of the season.

The cap on licence numbers, and the exclusion of some dredgers from the Isle of Man fishery, has proved controversial in some quarters. The Isle of Man government, and much

of the industry-led Scallop Management Board, however, argued that strict measures were needed to maintain the stock, which had declined sharply in numbers after a boom period for recruitment from 2006 onwards.

Around 40 trawlers are licensed in the fishery. A Small annual TAC provided for a handful of queenie dredge vessels has gone uncaught in recent years, with vessel owners saying the quota on offer wasn’t financially viable. However, some of the Kirkcudbright dredge fleet have been fishing close to the boundary of the Isle of Man territorial sea, with both the King Explorer and King Challenger working the South East Douglas grounds.

Fishing has been concentrated on the Targets grounds, west of the island, with catch rates and quality reported to be good, and boats have been taking their quota of 100 bags within three or four tows. Several Northern Ireland vessels, including the Cowrie Bay and Highland Queen, have joined the Isle of Man fleet, with a smaller number of Manx vessels working on the east coast.

A spokesperson for West Coast Sea Products, the largest processor on the Isle of Man, told Fishing News: “The season has started off really well, with high meat yields from day one, when in many seasons they take a week or two to build up. Catch rates are as high as we have seen for many years, and it is also good to see demand for fresh roe-on queenies build this year, after a poor 2023.

“This time last year we’d reached 130t. The figure for 2024 is now at 468t, which gives an indication of how the season has gone to date. We’re confident that as long as we can continue with this level of yield, we can continue the season in this way until the roes start to go – demand for roe-off queenies remains very poor.”

This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.

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Main image credit: Darren Purves