Brussels, 17/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Union and Norway were critical of Iceland and the Faroe Isles on Thursday 16 February for the breakdown of negotiations on allocating mackerel quotas for the 2012 marketing year. The fifth round of talks between the EU and Norway, on one side, and Iceland and the Faroe Isles, on the other, held in Reykjavik on 14-16 February, came to an abrupt end, despite the threat of sanctions by the EU. On 14 February, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on certain measures in relation to countries allowing non-sustainable fishing for the purpose of the conservation of fish stocks, which is yet to be studied by the Council and Parliament. It proposes sanctions against third countries guilty of over-fishing, by restricting imports of fisheries products caught by the vessels of these countries or by imposing restrictions on the use of EU ports by ships flying the flag of guilty countries. European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki is believed to have suggested to Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle that benchmarks for Iceland be set before the fisheries chapter in that country's accession negotiations with the EU is opened.
This is the third consecutive year that North Sea coastal states have failed to find agreement on the management of mackerel stocks, as a result of the insatiable desire of Iceland and, according to the Scots, especially the Faroe Isles. What is to happen now? The Scots say that the EU and Norway will come to a bilateral arrangement on mackerel quotas, while the Faroes and Iceland will set their own quotas unilaterally.
This breakdown of talks has caused disappointment and concern over the sustainability of the mackerel stock, say Commissioner Damanaki and Norwegian Fisheries Minister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen in a joint statement. After fishing very little mackerel (around 2,000 tonnes in 2006), Iceland suddenly increased its quota to 130,000 tonnes in 2010 and then to almost 157,000 tonnes in 2011, in the wake of the crisis which ruined the country's very important banking system and highlighted the key role of fisheries. The Faroe Isles increased its quota six-fold from 2010 to 150,000 tonnes in 2011. “If the EU and Norway had followed the same Icelandic and Faroese logic for the justification of setting quotas, then the total fishing pressure on the stock would go totally out of control”, said Damanaki and Berg-Hansen.
The EU and Norway have built up the mackerel stock on a sustainable basis. This sustainability is being directly threatened by the recent development of new and unilateral fisheries by Iceland and the Faroe Islands. In addition, such developments are, in the view of the EU and Norway, inconsistent with sustainable management and in violation of international commitments by Iceland and the Faroe Islands to co-operate with other parties.
According to the EU and Norway, neither Iceland nor the Faroe Islands really engaged in the negotiation process, and have not made any proposals. Between autumn 2011 and the start of 2012, the EU and Norway, on the other hand, submitted three series of proposals. These offered Iceland and the Faroe Islands a considerably increased share of the total allowable catch (TAC). They would also have allowed Icelandic and Faroese vessels to fish a significant part of their quota share in EU and Norwegian waters, where the value of the fish is significantly higher than in Icelandic or Faroese waters. The EU and Norway recognise that the change in the migration pattern in recent years, due to the expansion of the stock, justifies a modified sharing arrangement - but not to the extent decided by Iceland and the Faroes Isles.
Iceland and the Faroe Islands, it is felt, seem to neglect the dependency that coastal communities in the EU and Norway have on this stock.
“Mackerel fishing has been an important source of income for decades in our coastal communities, for many thousands of fishermen operating both in large-scale and artisanal fisheries. Iceland is the newcomer in the mackerel fishery”, says the EU-Norway statement.
Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Fisheries Richard Lochhead has warned that a third straight year without agreement is a dangerous strategy that is risking the future of what is a very valuable fishery.
He said: “It is deeply disappointing and enormously frustrating that we are facing another year without a mackerel deal. The lack of progress this week has been very worrying, with the Faroes in particular demonstrating a lack of willingness to reach a deal. We now expect the Faroes and Iceland will continue with grossly inflated quotas that are all about short-term selfish gain”, adding: “We recognise mackerel stocks are currently present in seas further west and Iceland has a right to a share. However, it's unacceptable to opportunistically pursue these massive quotas. The Faroes, meanwhile, don't even have the capacity to catch so many mackerel, with foreign vessels invited into their waters to pillage the stock on their behalf.” According to the Scots, if overfishing continues, there is a prospect of the mackerel stock falling below safe limits by 2014. Lochhead has called on the EU to “fast-track plans for sanctions against any country engaging in unsustainable fishing outwith international agreements”. In 2010, mackerel was Scotland's most valuable catch, worth £113 million to the Scottish economy. (LC/transl.rt)