Iceland’s National Association of Small Boat Owners (NASBO) has called on the Ministry of Fisheries to allow free fishing on mackerel for the inshore fleet.
The NASBO annual general meeting held past week discussed the declining attraction of the mackerel fishery for the small boat fleet since the Ministry’s decision to manage the fishery with catch limits. Now there are only 37 inshore fishing for mackerel, and catches have been excellent for those that have stayed with the mackerel fishery with an average of 86 tonnes for each of the participating boats.
The meeting mentioned the concerns over the declining number of boats fishing for mackerel, and with plenty of available quota, there is no reason for the fishery to be run with catch limits for hook and line boats.
NASBO has called on the Minister to open mackerel as a free fishery for the hook and line fleet, as there are currently 10,018 tonnes of available quota, with 8018 tonnes currently allocated to 188 boats, while the fishery has so far been 2764 tonnes taken by 33 boats.
