Norwegian fishing vessel operators’ federation Fiskebåt has written to the authorities, asking for restrictions to be placed on Icelandic and Greenlandic vessels landing mackerel in Norwegian ports.
According to Fiskebåt, sales organisation has received notifications from a Greenlandic-flagged vessels of mackerel catches available for Norwegian processors to bid for. Fiskebåt states in its letter that Iceland and Greenland are outside the coastal states’ agreement on mackerel and are responsible for driving mackerel fisheries in waters beyond their own EEZs.
According to Fiskebåt director Audun Maråk, the strategy is believed to be to that these nations are positioning themselves to secure the largest possible share of the resource under potential future coastal states agreements.
Fiskebåt’s position is that it is unfortunate that these nations are increasing their efforts in international waters, increasing the pressure on mackerel stocks.
‘Fiskebåt believes that Icelandic and Greenlandic fishing fleets should not be able to deliver their mackerel catches to Norway as long as they continue to claim an unjustifiably large share of mackerel quota, and while they remain outside the coastal states’ agreement,’ Audun Maråk stated in Fiskebåt’s letter to the Norwegian authorities, asking for action to be taken to restrict these landings to Norwegian ports.
