News / Herring sanctions close
THE EUROPEAN Union looks set to start imposing trade sanctions against Faroe for overfishing within the next month.
Fishing leaders met EU fish commissioner Maria Damanaki on Thursday morning where she agreed that sanctions should be imposed.
Initially those sanctions will affect herring imports, but could be extended to mackerel and even farmed salmon, which are fed fishmeal made from the pelagic species.
The move comes after repeated failures to negotiate an international quota agreement on herring and mackerel in the north east Atlantic.
A matter of days ago the Marine Stewardship Council suspended its eco-label certificate for the Faroese herring fishery, after the islands unilaterally tripled their quota from 32,000 to 105,000 tonnes.
European fishing leaders, well represented by Scotland, argued that as the Faroese herring fishery is mixed with mackerel, the other species should be included in the sanctions.
They also said salmon fed fishmeal made from herring and mackerel should be included as well.
Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association chief executive Ian Gatt said that moves to impose sanctions were now gathering pace, after years of obfuscation.
“It’s taken a long time to get here, but at the end of the day the negotiation process has been exhausted and we hope this will be a lever to resolve the situation,” he said.
The wider issue is both Iceland and Faroe choosing to catch more than half of the entire north Atlantic mackerel quota, up from just five per cent in 2006.
The fishermen hope this is a first step towards tackling both island groups on that matter with sanction.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its many readers to consider paying for membership to get additional features and services: -
- Remove non-local ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
