Brussels, 11/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - After three days of negotiations in Oslo, the European Union, Norway and Iceland were unable to reach agreement in their dispute over the management of mackerel quotas, Norway announced on Friday 11 March.
“Things are moving. The positions are coming closer but the distance remains such that we were unable to come to an agreement”, the head of the Norwegian delegation, Johan Henrik Williams, told AFP.
Iceland decided unilaterally to award itself a considerable increase in its mackerel catches over the last few years. From fishing around 2,000 tonnes, it sharply raised its quota to 130,000 tonnes in 2010. Following the breakdown of the previous negotiations in November of last year, Iceland announced that it was going to increase its quota to 146,000 tonnes in 2011. The EU, with the support of Norway, with which it had traditionally managed mackerel stocks, viewed these levels as unacceptable and, in January, decided to close its ports to mackerel fished by Icelanders. Negotiations have not, however, been broken off, and will resume at a later date.
Iceland and the Faroe Islands, which also greatly increased its quota, argue that global warming has caused the mackerel to migrate more into their exclusive fishing areas. (L.C./transl.rt)