Icelandic Minister for Fisheries, Jon Bjarnason has officially recognised an invitation sent to him from the European Union, the Faroe Islands and Norway asking Iceland to participate in Mackerel quota setting in the Northeast Atlantic. The meeting will take place March and this is the first time Iceland has been asked to attend.
A statement from the Ministry of Fisheries says that all four administrations are agreed that the mackerel stocks should be harnessed sustainably and agree on the importance of a united policy to maintain stocks. The news comes shortly after the Icelandic minister gave his approval for a unilateral 130,000 tonne mackerel quota in 2010.
Iceland has been lobbying hard for a place at the table for several years; but repeated refusal by the other three parties led to the country issuing its own mackerel quota; and some argue that too-high quotas have been deliberately set to force the EU, Faroes and Norway’s hand. The problem arises because mackerel are relatively new to Icelandic waters and no tradition of commercial mackerel fishing exists.
Icelandic vessels only began fishing mackerel two years ago, but 2008’s catch was nearly 120,000 tonnes. That is more than half the weight of Iceland’s established cod catch.
Source:icenews.is/
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