As scientists gather at ICES this week to assess the northeast Atlantic pelagic stocks and in particular the mackerel stock, the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation has highlighted the widespread concern over the declining state of the mackerel stock – which it attributes to massive overfishing and unilateral TACs set by non-EU Coastal States.
A KFO representative pointed out that in the last week alone, Norwegian sales organisation for pelagic fish Sildelaget described the fishery at the far edge of the Norwegian EEZ as being like a ‘rock concert in the Norwegian Sea’ with a record-breaking 27,000 tonnes of mackerel landed over just a few days.
‘While Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Russia continue to hammer the stock in international waters, Norway is unashamedly celebrating the fact that it now has 130 vessels fishing mackerel and landed a record breaking 27,000 tonnes last week,’ a KFO representative commented.
‘It’s becoming increasingly obvious that these countries won’t even consider stopping until they have collapsed the stock.’
