for any vessel booking in did not have the desired effect partly due to difficulties in obtaining timely information from the relevant Department officials. In 2012 a new access policy was published by the fisheries minister, (Dept. Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, 2012), which sought to limit access to vessels which landed Herring between 2006 and 2010. This has resulted in approximately 38 vessels qualifying for access to the fishery from 2012. Incidentally this is higher than the average participation over the previous 4 years.