Isle of Man to get more control over fish management

The island's scallop fisheries are not affected by the changes

The Isle of Man will have responsibility for licensing EU fishing boats in Manx waters for the first time under the UK's post-Brexit deal with the EU, the chief minister has said.

Vessels from France, Belgium and the Irish Republic have relied on licences issued by their home jurisdictions.

Howard Quayle said it was "an important measure in the control of our territorial waters".

Currently vessels are free to fish off the Manx coast without local approval.

The licensing system applies to species - predominantly white fish - within the island's 12-mile territorial limit.

The Isle of Man's scallop industry is not affected.

In future, the owners of EU-registered vessels will be restricted to catch limits equal to those which they previous recorded.

UK-registered vessels are already licensed by the Manx government.

There are currently 79 Isle of Man and UK vessels licensed by the Manx government

Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister Geoffrey Boot said the new system was "a good step forward".

The UK's future recovery of quotas from the EU under the deal could lead to "improvements" in that allocated to the Manx fishing industry "in the longer-term", he added.

King scallops and queen scallops are not part of the arrangements and the island maintains the right to set its own catch limits and conservation measures for those fisheries.

Under the post-Brexit trade deal the island's fish producers will still be able to import their products to the EU without facing tariffs. The industry is worth £20m to island annually.

Maintaining access to EU markets for those products was a "key factor" for the island as it is "where 80% of our catch goes", Mr Boot said.

"If we'd lost that market overnight that would have been catastrophic for the fishing industry," he added.