The September Council meeting of the EU fisheries ministers expressed strong support for Commissioner Maria Damanaki in her efforts to counter Iceland’s and the Faroe Islands’ unilaterally raised “damaging” catch quotas for mackerel.
Lacking a current agreement between the EU and the coastal states of Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, the two latter states have raised their TACs to fish mackerel that have moved north from EU waters in the wake of rising water temperatures.
In August Commissioner Damanaki warned that the move could force the Union to exclude Icelandic and Faroe fishermen from EU waters in the future, and she has also hinted that the conflict could be an obstacle in Iceland’s recently opened membership talks.
The EU and the coastal states will meet in London on 12-14 October to start negotiations on a new agreement, and the Commission had turned to the September Council meeting asking for guidelines.
According to the Council press release, the ministers said an agreement is “always desirable”, but that it could not be reached ”at any cost”.
At the press conference after the fisheries part of the meeting, the Flemish minister Kris Peeters, who had been presiding, underlined the importance of the stock “socio-economically” for the fisheries sector, and Commissioner Damanaki added the “extreme importance” of finding a solution to the conflict for the sustainability of the stock.
Peeters had reminded that Iceland and the Faroe Islands had raised the TACs much higher than was “traditionally established” , and without taking into account current scientific advice.
On another note, Ms. Damanaki however played down the threat to Iceland’s accession talks the conflict may impose, underlining that the Commission made “no connection”.