According to the Faroe Shipowners’ Association the Faroe Islands are forced to set its own quota when faced with its exclusion from this year’s northeast Atlantic mackerel agreement by the EU and Norway. Scientific evidence shows that the northeast Atlantic mackerel stock had gravitated considerably toward the northwest in recent years.
Despite that Faroe Islands were denied the concessions from the EU and Norway on any such considerations during this year’s mackerel negotiations. As the EU and Norway instead agreed on a bilateral arrangement for the 2010 season, the Faroese were left with no other alternative than setting their own quota, opines the association.
The association explained that the current mackerel issue has been misguided. Faroe Shipowners’ Association chairman Viberg Sørensen said that they did not leave the mackerel agreement as some have alleged but were rather excluded from it in the bilateral deal struck between the EU and Norway. In response to various “unflattering claims” raised by pelagic industry voices in Scotland and Norway, Sørensen pointed out that the Faroese mackerel fishery is fully legal and thoroughly regulated.
