Rebecca Bennett appointed General Manager of UK Fisheries

Rebecca Bennett is currently a director of Lockers Trawlers Ltd., which formed a joint venture partnership with UK Fisheries in 2023. She has extensive experience in the fishing industry and brings with her knowledge of the operations of the joint venture and fishing in the North Sea, where Lockers and UK Fisheries have combined their operations for the past two years.

Jane Sandell decided to stand down as CEO after a remarkable decade at the helm, during which she made significant contributions to the distant water sector, including to Britain’s last remaining distant waters trawler.

Reflecting on her time at UK Fisheries, Jane Sandell expressed her gratitude on the company’s website: "It’s been a pleasure to lead this wonderful team over the past ten years. The crews and their land-based colleagues are a truly exceptional group of people, and I wish them all every success in navigating UK Fisheries in what is currently a very challenging environment for this sector of the industry. This has been an exceptional experience."

Baldvin Thorsteinsson, in expressing the collective gratitude of the Board of UK Fisheries, noted: "We’d like to thank Jane for her resourceful and committed service over the past ten years, and we wish her every success for the future. Her passion for the industry has been an asset to the organisation."

UK Fisheries, which operates Britain’s last-remaining distant waters trawler, Kirkella, from its home port in Hull, has seen quotas in its traditional grounds in and around the Barents Sea fall from 13,000 tonnes in 2019 to just 4,075 in 2025, meaning significant changes in operations. As a result, the company has been forced to dispose of two of its three vessels.

As quoted on the UK Fisheries website, Rebecca Bennett expressed hope that some of the quota losses suffered over the past five years might be reversed.

"Our company has been hit hard by the poor outcomes of recent fisheries negotiations, and while we’ve fought hard to stay afloat through cost-cutting, economies of scale and our joint venture, we need much more in the next round to rebuild our business. Our crews and the people of this proud region deserve better," Bennett said.

A video providing a general tour of Kirkella can be viewed below.