Plans to enforce daily reporting of king scallop catches by visiting fisherman have been postponed for a week.

That new rules was due to come in yesterday (Monday) as part of a move to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Manx fishery.

But it prompted outcry from fishermen in Kirkcudbright in Scotland which is the UK’s biggest scallop landing port who say it will have a devastating effect on its local scallop industry, which employs some 300 people.

Dumfries and Galloway Council leader Elaine Murray is urging Scottish Government cabinet secretary Fergus Ewing to intervene.

Now, the island’s Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture says daily reporting will be put on hold for one week to allow more time for talks with the Scottish government.

In a statement, DEFA said the Isle of Man is committed to ’rigorously enforcing’ daily catch limits applied to vessels.

It said: ’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.’

The king scallop industry is worth £12m to the Manx economy.

Some 89 vessels are licensed to fish for king scallops within the 12-mile limit this season, 31 of them Manx and the remainder from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This season a total catch limit of 3,203 tonnes was imposed, with initial daily limits of 1,050kg per vessel, reduced to 700kg at the end of November.

The new licence condition will require all vessels to report in with their catch to a Manx port on days they fish within Manx waters, for possible inspection.

The same requirement has been in place for queen scallop fishing since 2014.