The European Commission on Tuesday expressed "serious concern" about Iceland's decision in March to set its 2009 mackerel quota at 112,000 metric tons, about the same harvest level as last year.
"In setting such an exaggerated level of quota, Iceland is acting in contradiction to its international obligations to cooperate on the conservation of this key resource in the North East Atlantic," said Joe Borg, EU commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries. "An Icelandic fishery of that dimension completely undermines the successful multilateral management of the stock by the EC, Norway and the Faeroe Islands since 1999."
Borg warned that Iceland's mackerel quota, which has "no scientific or historical justification," compromises the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission's efforts to protect the mackerel stock over the past decade.
The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) - which late last year set its 2009 mackerel quota at 605,000 metric tons, divided between the European Union, Norway and the Faeroe Islands - accuses Iceland of overfishing mackerel. Iceland is not a member of the NEAFC.
Iceland's 110,000-metric-ton mackerel catch in 2008 was up sharply from previous years thanks to an unexpectedly productive herring fishery, which harvested the mackerel as bycatch.
Hrefna Karlsdottir, secretary of Iceland's Fisheries Ministry, told Reuters that Iceland has not broken any international agreements because it was not party to any.
"We have deliberately been kept out of the management of these stocks," said Karlsdottir. "We have therefore not recognized the agreements reached within the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission and are not bound by them."
