‘Insane’ mackerel quotas could spell disaster for Scottish fisheries

The Faroe Islands recently set itself a mackerel catch quota of 85,000t for the 2010 North Sea season. According to the Scottish Government, this represents 15% of the global total allowable catch and increases the country’s yearly share by 12%. Iceland awarded itself a yearly quota of 130,000t in January, compared with 112,000t in 2009.

The SFPA promotes the interests of Scottish fisherman generally and 25 individual vessels. Chief executive Ian Gatt told FoodManufacture.co.uk that although Faroese mackerel was not widely sold in UK supermarkets due to lack of MSC accreditation, the knock-on effects of the new quotas could be huge:

“Mackerel prices would rise in the medium-term if stocks diminished, although world prices would collapse initially given the glut of cheap fish, which would be principally sold to lucrative Ukrainian and Japanese markets.​"

MSC accreditation​

MSC guidelines impose scientific conditions concerning how much fish can safely be taken from given waters, but Gatt explained that sea borders were porous: “Mackerel is a migrating stock, so over-fishing in regions neighbouring the EU can cause stocks to collapse here. These quotas make a mockery of Scottish plans for long-term sustainability.​

“Over-fishing threatens the very livelihoods of Scottish and Norwegian fisherman, since if it continues then it is only a matter of time before numbers fall in our mackerel fisheries and we lose MSC accreditation for supposedly not looking after stocks​,”​ he claimed.

Asked what steps the SPFB was taking, Gatt replied: “We’re part of a lobbying process with Norway, but are also trying to seal Icelandic and Faroese vessels out of Norwegian and EU markets. They must accept more reasonable quotas.”​

Coastal States Agreement​

The so-called ‘Mackerel war’ has become a major diplomatic row, with mackerel landings by Scottish vessels worth £135m in 2009. Angry Scottish fisherman also tried to prevent a Faroese vessel landing mackerel destined for a Peterhead processing facility on Tuesday.

The Scottish Government has now written two protest letters to the European Commission, urging it to block Icelandic EU accession talks; first minister Alex Salmond also met Norway’s foreign minister yesterday to discuss common action on the “irresponsible”​ quota decision.

Over the past 20 years the mackerel stock has been apportioned through a Coastal State Agreement between three parties, the Faroe Islands, Norway and the EU. But last year the Faroe Islands decided to opt out, while Iceland was never party to the common agreement.