The deadline of 31st March that coastal states around the north Atlantic had set themselves for reaching an agreement on the division of the mackerel TAC has passed – with no agreement.
According to Dr Tom Pickerell, project leader at NAPA which represents leading seafood buyers in applying pressure for coastal states to get their act together, the pledge to uphold UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) appear to have beem nothing but hollow words.
‘We had thought that Northeast Atlantic mackerel was being taken seriously by the Coastal States, and their self-imposed ‘hard deadline’ would stimulate agreement on catch shares,’ he said.
‘But once again the market, and the consumers they serve, are left frustrated and disappointed. The obstacles are wholly political. The solution lies entirely with the Coastal States and their willingness to reach agreement. Their own lofty commitments to sustainable fishing are worthless in the face of this outcome.’
He said that there are serious problems with the Northeast Atlantic mackerel fishery, which has been overfished since 2009, commenting that no concrete steps were taken to rectify the fundamental management flaws that are fuelling this overfishing and in 2019 the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification was suspended from the mackerel fisheries due to poor governance and inadequate management.
‘Over the last decade, negotiations between the seven parties have routinely broken down, with them instead looking to maximise their individual shares,’ he said.
There appeared to be progress during the annual talks held between the Coastal States last year when the parties set themselves a deadline to reach a final agreement on the sharing of mackerel quotas before 31st March 2023.
‘If achieved, this would mean collective agreement on allocations that, when summed together, would not exceed the sustainable catch level for mackerel recommended by scientists,’ he said and added that three meetings were scheduled in the first quarter of 2023 to achieve this ambitious goal.
At the first meeting each of the delegations noted their commitment to reaching a sharing agreement and there was an acknowledgement that no party will get 100% of what they are asking for. ‘However, the second meeting was back to the olds ways of finger-pointing and obduracy. The third meeting concluded on 30th March, and ended with a whimper, the report of the meeting noting the Coastal States required more time to reach a comprehensive and inclusive set of arrangements.’
A direct consequence is that the NAPA FIP for mackerel and herring will be downgraded to a D rating This may well have serious implications for NAPA members who have committed to only purchasing from FIPs rated A-C.
