Brussels, 01/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - Following her meeting in Athens on Friday 29 with Faroese Fisheries Minister Jacob Vestergaard, Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Fisheries, confirmed that the herring war between the EU and the Faroe Islands was “over”.
Fishermen from the Faroe Islands, an autonomous province within the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948, are back in EU waters and their European counterparts have resumed their traditional activities in Faroese waters, Damanaki announced in a statement. On 18 August, the Commission announced that it had cancelled the measures adopted in August 2013 against the Faroe Islands because of overfishing of Atlanto-Scandian herring (see EUROPE 11136). Due to a sharp increase in catches of herring unilaterally decided upon by the Faroe Islands in 2013, the Commission banned imports to the EU of herring and mackerel caught by Farose vessels. Access to EU ports for vessels involved in the catching or transport of these fish was also prohibited.
Damanaki also announced that she had reached agreement with Vestergaard on two things: 1) the importance of safeguarding sustainable fishing activities in the waters of the North-East Atlantic (abiding by scientific advice on the state of fish stocks); 2) the need for the five coastal states (EU, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway and Russia) to agree on fishing quotas in the North-East Atlantic. “The resolution of the bilateral dispute between the EU and the Faroe Islands is without prejudice to the outcome of our upcoming talks about the 2015 catch limit this autumn”, Commissioner Damanaki said. (LC)