Brussels, 03/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is very concerned about Iceland's recent decision to declare a unilateral mackerel quota of 112,000 tonnes for 2009. “In setting such an exaggerated level of quota, Iceland is acting in contradiction with its international obligations to cooperate on the conservation of this key resource in the North-East Atlantic,” commented EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg, adding that “an Icelandic fishery of that dimension completely undermines the successful multilateral management of the stock by the EC, Norway and the Faroe Islands since 1999”.
Until 2007, Iceland had little or no mackerel catches but in 2008, Iceland fished over 60,000 tonnes in an unregulated fashion. In October 2008, the EU, Norway and the Faroe Islands fixed a total allowable catch for mackerel of up to 605,000 tonnes for 2009, with a quota for Iceland of 1,738 tonnes. (L.C./transl.fl)