Iceland on Tuesday dismissed calls by Ireland’s and other EU countries for sanctions against the country and the Faroe Islands for overfishing of mackerel as “propaganda.”
“Essentially it’s propaganda,” Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson told AFP.
Backed by France, Portugal and Spain, Ireland asked the European Commission Monday for information on potential trade measures against their north Atlantic neighbours, the latest chapter in an ongoing “mackerel war.”
EU fishing states are angry at high quotas set unilaterally by Iceland and the Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish territory, on the grounds that global warming is pushing more mackerel north into their waters.
