The Manx scallop fleet has aready lost almost £175,000 of income as a result of the cut in queenie quotas, it’s been revealed.

In a Tynwald question, Tanya August-Hanson MLC asked what the impact would be of the 40% cut in total allowance catch announced at the beginning of the season.

Since then, all but one area of the queenie fishery has been closed, to conserve stocks.

The restrictions came after a survey highlighted that queen scallop stocks had decreased to their lowest level since 1993.

Only the East Douglas area remains open to queenie fishing. A high density of adult queen scallops has been found in this area where fishing has concentrated since the season opened.

There have been poor catch rates on the other grounds, Environment Minister Geoffrey Boot said. He said it is hoped that the protection of areas of high densities of juveniles will yield a productive fishery in 2020.

Mr Boot said the average price per tonne for queen scallops declined from £1,467.84 in July 2018 to £1,350.40 in July this year.

Over that same period, the landed weight of queen scallops by Manx fishermen declined from 240.1 tonnes to 131.6 tonnes.

Mr Boot said: ’This equates to an estimated overall reduction in income of around £174,715 across the Manx fleet. There were 22 vessels fishing in 2019 compared to 24 in 2018, and so the individual impact is relatively reduced.’

The Minister said under the Fisheries Management Agreement with the UK, the island cannot restrict access to Manx fish stocks by reason of nationality.

He said the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture is actively encouraging diversification options for other fish species.