05/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - Retaliatory measures against Iceland being prepared. The European Commission said in the autumn that, should there be no agreement with Iceland over the mackerel fishery, it would take retaliatory action. Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki told European fisheries ministers in Brussels on 14 December she had instructed her staff to prepare a draft regulation which would aim to ban vessels flying the Icelandic flag from landing mackerel (as a raw material or processed) in Community ports. Damanaki said that she was “seriously” considering invoking Protocol 9 of the EEA (European Economic Area) Agreement. Iceland unilaterally granted itself a quota of 130,000 tonnes of mackerel in 2010 and, at the end of November, left the four-way negotiations (EU, Norway, Faroe Island and Iceland) on management of the stock. (L.C./transl.rt)