Managing innovation in the British Herring Fishery: the role of the herring industry board 1945–1977

The Herring Industry Board attempted to modernise the British herring fleet throughout the postwar period. It employed three main economic and technical instruments: research and development, grants and loans to support investment, and minimum prices and fishing subsidies. Although the Board's successes were modest during the 1940s and 1950s, its efforts helped encourage radical innovation in the mid-1960s. Unfortunately, the highly efficient fleet it helped establish contributed to the overfishing of herring stocks that precipitated the fishery's closure in the 1970s.