Tuesday, 31st August 2010
Stevenson to attend mackerel summit
Scottish Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson will attend a major summit in the Faroe Islands in a bid to break the deadlock over mackerel quotas.
Mr Stevenson will represent the European Parliament in Torshavn, the islands’ capital, for the conference on 'The Pelagic Complex in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean' on September 7-9, which will be attended by ministers from the Nordic countries, including Iceland.
His visit has been authorised by the president of parliament's Fisheries Committee, Carmen Fraga, thanks to his prominent role in highlighting the dispute over quotas, widely dubbed the ‘mackerel war’.
Officials from the European Commission will also be in attendance.
The disagreement started after Iceland increased its 2010 quota by 6,500%, from 2,000 to 130,000 tonnes, while the Faroe Islands have more than tripled their catch from 25,000 to 85,000 tonnes.
Combined with national quotas from Norway and half a dozen EU member states, this could see a third of the entire 2.6 million tonnes of mackerel in the North Atlantic killed in a single year, raising fears of substantial damage to the fishery.
Last week, Iceland admitted that it had already caught 75% of its inflated quota.
Norway, which is not a member of the EU, has already banned Icelandic and Faroese vessels from offloading their cargoes in its ports.
Mr Stevenson said:
“Attending the conference will give me the chance to raise our concerns directly with Icelandic and Faroese ministers.
“I sincerely hope that we can resolve this dispute through negotiation, although given that Iceland has already admitted catching 75% of its massively-increased quota, extreme urgency is now required to prevent a catastrophe in mackerel stocks.
“I have argued throughout this dispute that we need to negotiate from a position of strength, using the possibility of a blockade of Icelandic and Faroese fishing boats as a bargaining tool just as Norway has done.
“Some have said this threatens jobs in Scotland, but Iceland and the Faroes have far more to lose, as their economies are heavily dependent on fishing. Of course, we will all suffer if the mackerel fishery is destroyed.
“I am more than willing to extend the olive branch, but they must know that we mean business.”
