Iceland's Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture issued a statement blasting the "Mackerel Wars" deal forged between the Faroe Islands and the European Union, decrying the methods used to form the agreement as "unacceptable."
In his statement, Minister Sigurdur Johannsson accused the E.U. of caving to pressure from Norway, and betraying unofficial agreements with Iceland in order to secure the 12 March Faroes deal.
The Faroe Islands, together with Iceland, have been fighting accusations by the E.U. and Norway that they are overfishing herring and mackerel stocks, while officials from Iceland and the Faroes insist that updated scientific studies show the stocks of both have migrated into their waters, making fishing at higher volumes safer.
The dispute led to sanctions from the E.U. against the Faroes last fall, with threats to do the same with Iceland. On 12 March, negotiators seemed to have agreed to a new quota for all parties, but Iceland was not involved in those discussions.
The negotiations have taken place behind closed doors, but Johannsson, in his statement, spoke of an informal agreement with the E.U. that was in place early in the discussions, part of the reason why Iceland did not feel its interests had been left out of the negotiations until this week.
According to Johannsson, the earlier informal agreement with the E.U., which he said took place "in autumn 2013," dictated that Iceland's share of the total allowable catch (TAC) for Europe would never be less than 11.9 percent and/or would not drop below 123,000 metric tons (MT).
According to the 12 March agreement, however, the new TAC adds up to 1.24 million MT, and only 15.6 percent of that TAC, or 193,440 MT, is to be shared between Iceland and Russia.
There is no official word yet on what the exact quota allocation for Iceland will be under the new agreement, but Johannsson in his letter is already accusing the E.U. of betraying Iceland under pressure from Norway.
"The E.U. ensured us that it would guarantee the necessary means to reach an agreement, including the support of Norway," Johannsson wrote. "In the later phase of the negotiations, however, it was clear that the E.U. moved closer to the demands of Norway, which were based on severe increase of fishing exceeding advice. Thus, the E.U. has gone back on its words and instead of upholding the agreement reached with Iceland, based on sustainable fishing, the union has signed an agreement with Norway and the Faroe Islands, which supports fishing greatly exceeding advice."
Johannsson said the advice he is referring to is the recommendations of the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES). Now, he wrote, Johannsson fears the newly-set catch limits could exceed ICES recommendations by as much as 50 percent.
Johannsson accused all the negotiating parties, including the Faroes, of betraying Iceland, leaving it unclear what the future holds for Iceland's relationship with the rest of Europe.
"We believe that by going behind Iceland's back in reaching this agreement, the EU, Norway and the Faroe Islands have forfeited trust and greatly impaired future cooperation and negotiations of the Coastal States," Johannsson wrote.
March 13, 2014
