European fishing operators, represented by Europêche, have responded to the tripartite mackerel deal struck between Norway, the Faroe Islands and the UK, dismissing it as seeking to legitimise continuous overfishing by some on the basis of excessive, inflated unilateral quotas that stray far from the shares applicable under the last sharing arrangement.
Europêche is calling for the European Commission and the European Council to address this by taking decisive action agains what it calls ‘irresponsible behaviour.’
Europêche also describes the UK’s participation in the deal as a ‘decision to swap in stolen goods, namely part of the artificially increased Norwegian mackerel quota, for the second year in a row.’
‘This agreement does not solve the critical issue of catches exceeding the TAC set in line with scientific advice. Instead, it rewards the setting of excessive, inflated unilateral quotas by some parties in recent years. Therefore, the EU industry urges all Coastal States to resume their consultations on a comprehensive sharing arrangement that should reflect genuine, sustainable track records and interests,’ Europêche states, calling on the European Commission and the Council of the EU to take concrete action against the setting of excessive, artificially increased unilateral quotas and make use of the instruments at their disposal, such as trade measures.
‘Clearly, this partial agreement will not stop overfishing and will not bring back MSC certification. The parties involved are legitimising unsustainable practices by fixing these shares and transferring quotas from one to the other, quotas that in fact constitute Monopoly money as they should never have been set at such an inflated level,’ said PFA president Tim Heddema, speaking on behalf of the EU pelagic sector.
‘One would hope that the UK teams up with their sustainability-oriented partners in the EU rather than with those who are responsible for recent overfishing and, in light of current world affairs, have a questionable choice of allegiances. The only solution is a comprehensive agreement that is not based on distorted track records. The EU industry strongly urges all parties to continue negotiations and to do so in good faith and with the same focused commitment that was shown towards the recently agreed trilateral and bilateral deals.’
The deal between Norway, the Faroes and the UK awards themselves almost three-quarters of the TAC – along with an invitation to the remaining coastal states to join the agreement that can only be seen as disingenuous in the extreme, as the EU, Iceland and Greenland are apparently expected to share between them the remaining quarter of the TAC.
Earlier this year, the coastal states were able to agree on a mackerel TAC – but there’s clearly little will among the Nordic fishing nations in particular to come to an agreement on how this gets shared out, resulting in some wild numbers when it comes to what they expect for their own shares.
‘It’s now clear that In the absence of an agreement between all Coastal States, the trend of setting excessive, inflated quotas will persist, with adverse impacts on fishing opportunities and market position of EU fishers for years to come,’ Europêche states.
‘The EU industry continues to urge the Commission and the Council to act decisively against this irresponsible behaviour, for example by using its power as the main market for the other Coastal States’ seafood exports.’
