The latest round of talks in the ongoing mackerel conflict ended no deal and Scottish interests calling for the EU to impose “meaningful sanctions”, while the Icelandic chief negotiator claimed his country was willing to be “more flexible”, and the head of the Norwegian delegation said that “things are moving”.
Iceland unilaterally raised its annual mackerel quota to 130,000 tonnes last summer – according to EU estimates, it has traditionally been 2,000 tonnes – after increasing water temperature in the Atlantic has made huge quantities of the stock turn north, out of EU waters into areas closer to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, which has also raised its TACs.
Iceland has motivated its increased mackerel quota with a wish to keep its 17 percent share of the North Atlantic catch: when the stock in these waters grows, the Icelandic share should grow, as well.
Late last year, EU Fisheries Commissioner Mara Damanaki took the first steps in a process to block Icelandic vessels from landing catches in Union ports.
Norway, which is also taking part in the negotiations over the mackerel conflict, closed in December a bilateral deal with the EU for mackerel in the north-east Atlantic that permitted catches of 646,000 tonnes, in accordance with scientific advice.
The parties met for three days of talks in the second week of March. Following the breakdown, with no date set for renewed negotiations, Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association chief executive Ian Gatt claimed that Iceland and the Faroe Islands had been “totally unrealistic and intransigent” regarding what his Scottish ministers had described as “Europe’s most valuable stock”.
Gatt called for stepped-up sanctions against Iceland and the Faroe Islands, including a moratorium on Iceland’s ongoing EU membership talks.
The head of the Norwegian delegation, Johan Henrik Williams, however played down the conflict, and said: “Things are moving. Our points of view are getting closer but the distance is still such that we couldn’t reach an agreement.”
And Iceland’s chief negotiator Tomas Heidar said on returning to Reykjavik that the talks had been “in our view more positive than earlier consultations”, and that his country would indeed accept a lower quota.
“We expect that the EU and Norway will now respond to our increased flexibility by taking steps to reduce the gap that still exists between the parties”, he said.
“Another round of consultations has not been decided but the parties will keep close contact in the next weeks and decide on the next steps”, Heidar added.