Friday

29th Mar 2024

EU-Iceland mackerel talks flounder

  • Failure to reach an agreement could limit Icelandic access to EU waters (Photo: Richard Ling)

A seafood ban slapped on EU candidate nation Iceland is in the offing as negotiations over mackerel quotas for 2011 flounder.

Reykjavik rejected on Friday (29 October) a Norwegian proposal backed by the European Union that the north Atlantic nation be awarded an increase in its mackerel quota to 26,000 tonnes next year, up from its earlier 2,000-tonne limit.

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Iceland, which has unilaterally upped its quota to 130,000 tonnes for the coming year, rejected the offer.

Tomas Heidar, chief negotiator for the island said: "The offer is unrealistic and does not contribute to fixing the problem."

"We consider ourselves sole owners of the stocks in our waters," he added, according to Icelandic daily Morgenbladid.

The Faroe Islands, part of Denmark but not the European Union, has meanwhile upped its fishing limit to 85,000 tonnes.

Seas warmer than usual this year have seen a migration of mackerel out of EU waters to cooler more northerly territories fished by Icelanders and the Faeroese, who both upped their catch allowances in August in response, angering Brussels.

Fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki the same month warned of the EU's "grave concern" at the "unilateral" and "surprise" move.

"Such actions risk causing the collapse of the northeast Atlantic mackerel stock, which would be to the detriment of all the fleets and industries concerned," she said.

If the two countries do not row back on their stance, Ms Damanaki warned they could lose access to EU waters: "Should our efforts not be fruitful, I cannot guarantee that we will continue to exchange fishing possibilities with Iceland and the Faroe Islands in 2011."

According to reports, if the four-sided talks do not reach an agreement, Iceland and the Faroe Islands could face a seafood ban on the part of the European Union as well.

Negotiations are set to restart 8 November in London.

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