Thursday, 13th January 2011
Iceland mackerel landings to be banned from EU ports
Scottish Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson has welcomed news that Europe’s fishing supremo is to ban Icelandic mackerel landings at EU ports from tomorrow.
Speaking ahead of a crucial meeting of the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Committee which will be held in Brussels tomorrow (14th January), Mr Stevenson, who is Senior Vice President of the European Parliament's Fisheries Committee, said:
“The EU's Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki will inform the EEA Joint Committee tomorrow that the EU now wishes to block all mackerel landings into EU ports from vessels flying the flag of Iceland.
“I fully support the Commission in taking this dramatic step.
"The behaviour of Iceland over North East Atlantic mackerel stocks has been grossly irresponsible. They were warned that any failure to agree reasonable terms for the future sharing of this migratory species would provoke a serious backlash from the EU. But instead of reducing their catch to a reasonable level they have brazenly increased it further this year to 147,000 tonnes.
“This is a gargantuan figure for a nation of just 320,000 people.
“The blockade of our ports to Iceland's pelagic fleet will take immediate effect following tomorrow's meeting of the EEA Joint Committee. Norway implemented its own unilateral ban way back on 23 July 2010.
"The only way to end this blockade will be for Iceland to return to the negotiating table with a reasonable compromise proposal.
“Their smash and grab approach, which has seen the Icelandic mackerel catch rise from a mere 363 tonnes in 2005 to a mammoth 147,000 tonnes this year, is just not acceptable."
