The Westminster government says it will make exceptions to fishing quotas for to allow Manx fishermen to catch herring in the island's waters.

In practice, Isle of Man receives our quota from the English share of the apportionment so this will take the form of an exception made for England.

Published today, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ report looked at apportioning quotas across the British Isles as part of the UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which came from Brexit. This, the UK government says, gives a ‘fairer share of fishing opportunities for our fishing industry across the British Islands’.

The report also follows on from a consultation which ran during the summer of 2022 that looked at managing fishing quotas in 2023 and going forward.

The section which explicitly refers to the Isle of Man is where additional exceptions should be considered, with our fishing fleet, Northern Ireland and Wales listed as where these should apply.

The DEFRA said: ‘Reasons for exceptions included provision for by catch, supporting new vessels and providing opportunity to the under-10m fleet.

'These were largely related to addressing concerns around perceived unfair distribution of quota, improving access to those parts of industry that may need more time to adjust to new fishing opportunities, and providing sufficient quota for by catch.’

The department added that the exception for 2023 will ‘allow Isle of Man fishers to catch some of the herring stock in Manx waters’.

It also outlined that as the island receives its quota from England’s share, this exception will need to be made for England, but then allocated to the island.

The DEFRA said: ‘This will be reviewed, in consultation with Isle of Man Government, towards the end of 2023. The expectation is that this exception will be retained until 2026 and that nephrops quota would also be made available for an Isle of Man creel fishery from 2024.

‘However, the Fisheries Management Agreement between Isle of Man Government and the other UK administrations is due to end in November 2023 following the Isle of Man decision to withdraw and so these exceptions are subject to adequate governance arrangements being put in place for 2024 and beyond.’

‘Any exception for the benefit of Isle of Man could disproportionately affect Northern Ireland fishers due to their track record fishing in Manx waters. Defra will make further exceptions, in consultation with the Northern Ireland Executive, to ensure that Northern Ireland fishers are not disproportionally affected.’

The department has also said that if uptake of these additional exceptions is found to be low, then it may indicate they would be better utilised elsewhere in the British Isles.