Brussels, 17/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has finally decided to clamp down on a third country that has been overfishing by launching a procedure to impose sanctions against the Faroe Islands. The latter is reproached for having left the negotiating table during talks on the management of herring stocks and above all for having appropriated an enormous herring quota for 2013.
The Commission has notified the fisheries authorities of the Faroe Islands of its intention to adopt measures in support of the sustainability of herring fisheries shared with the Faroe Islands. This notification is a preliminary step which aims to give the Faroe Islands an opportunity to be heard in advance. The measure may include restrictions in the imports of herring and associated species fished by Faroese interests and restrictions on the access of Faroese vessels in EU harbours except for safety reasons.
The stock of Atlanto-Scandian herring is fished by Norway, the Russian Federation, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the European Union with management measures commonly set up through consultation among these countries. The Faroe Islands withdrew from the consultations on the management of the stock for 2013 and announced that they would set up an autonomous quota at a level of 145% higher than their 2012 quota. This was set against a context in which all other parties to the fishery had agreed to reduce their quotas by 26% for herring stock conservation reasons.
Sanctions envisaged by the Commission are based on Regulation 1026/2012, which provides for adoption of measures against the countries that do not cooperate with the EU in the management of stocks of common interest and adopt management measures that put fish stocks at risk.
The Faroe Islands is a self-governed territory within the kingdom of Denmark and is not part of the European Union. (LC/transl.jl)