Scottish fishermen call for oppostion to lifting Faroes sanctions 

With EU member states set to decide on 31 July whether to support the European Commission proposal to lift trade sanctions against the Faroes for their overfishing of Atlanto-Scandian herring, Scottish fishermen are calling on the U.K. and other national governments to oppose any easing of the measures.

The commission previously implemented trade sanctions in response to the unsustainable fishing practices of the Faroese for herring, which resulted in their setting of a unilateral quota (105,000 metric tons (MT) of more than three times the share they should have fished in 2013 (31,940 MT). But now the EC wants to lift sanctions following their reaching an agreement with the Faroes. 

According to Ian Gatt, CEO of the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association, while this has resulted in lower quota level of herring for 2014 for the Faroes at 40,000 MT, it is still almost double the figure they should have been allocated this year (21,594 MT) under the Coastal States agreement.

“It is a travesty of justice if you are seen as the guilty party when you take more than three times your allocated quota share, but it is deemed okay if you just take double. It makes a mockery of the whole ethos of sustainable fishing and the efforts of other countries that adhere to the international management plan. We therefore urge both the UK and other member state governments to oppose with real vigor the lifting of this ban. A vote in favor is essentially a vote in support of unsustainable fishing,” Gatt said.