Tomas H. Heidar, Iceland’s chief negotiator for mackerel, on Wednesday responded to a proposed ban on Icelandic mackerel landings at European Union ports, saying that mackerel fishing in recent years has almost exclusively taken place within Iceland’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone and that all catches have been landed and processed in Icelandic ports.
“According to Icelandic law, foreign vessels fishing from shared stocks, on which there is no management agreement, are not permitted to land their catches from such stocks in Icelandic ports,” Heidar told SeafoodSource. “Icelandic authorities obviously do not object to the same rules applying to the landing by Icelandic vessels in foreign ports of catches from shared stocks on which there is no management agreement.”
EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has asked the European Economic Area (EEA) Council to meet by mid-January to discuss the proposed ban. A Damanaki spokesperson told the Iceland Review that the ban would apply to only unprocessed mackerel and that the EU doesn’t possess the authority to ban the import of mackerel products.
The proposed ban was applauded by Scottish fishermen and politicians. “This is the clearest possible indication that Commissioner Damanaki is prepared to act tough as well as talk tough. I’m glad this firm action is now being pursued, as it’s clear Iceland is not prepared to drop their totally unreasonable demands,” said Scottish MEP Struan Stevenson on Tuesday.
But Heidar said the decision by the EU and Norway to collectively take 583,882 metric tons of mackerel next year — which is more than 90 percent of the 646,000-metric-ton total allowable catch recommended by scientists from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea — is “totally unjustified and amounts to a decision to overfish mackerel.”
“The EU and Norway are not the sole owners of the mackerel stock, and by taking almost all the recommended total allowable catch they disregard the legitimate interests of the other two coastal states, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands, as well as the interests of Russia,” said Heidar. “In our view, the EU and Norway bear the primary responsibility of overfishing of mackerel next year, which is of deep concern to us.”
On Monday, Icelandic Fisheries Minister Jón Bjarnason set the country’s 2011 mackerel quota at 146,818 metric tons, up from 130,000 metric tons in 2010 and 116,000 metric tons in 2009.
