Iceland’s minister of fisheries Kristján Thór Júlíusson has signed off regulations regarding the Icelandic fleet’s quotas for blue whiting and Atlanto-Scandian herring for 2019. At present there is no agreement with the Faroe Islands for Icelandic vessels to catch any of these quotas in Faroese waters.
The ICES advice for blue whiting in 2019 was for a 1,143,629 tonne TAC, an 18% reduction on the 2018 figure. While Iceland’s share of the fishery according to the 2005 agreement was 16.23%, the minister pointed out that in recent years both the Faroe Islands and the European Union have increased their blue whiting quotas by approximately 47%. He commented that the decision to set a 214,000 tonne blue whiting quota for the Icelandic fleet has been reached, taking into consideration quota increases by other coastal states.
The advised TAC for Atlanto-Scandian herring this year is 588,562 tonnes, a 53% increase on last year’s TAC.
According to the Icelandic ministry of fisheries, this increase has been allowed in spite of the stock’s poor condition and is part of a long-term management policy. Iceland warned against this change at the last coastal states meeting.
Under the 2007 Atlanto-Scandian herring agreement, Iceland had a 14.51% share, but over the last two years Norway has increased its share from 61% to 70%, and Kristján Thór Júlíusson said that Iceland’s 97,996 tonne quota for next year is an increase proportionally equal to the Norwegian increase.
‘It is certainly a concern that overfishing of both of these stocks should continue, especially the herring,’ Kristján Thór Júlíusson said.
‘Iceland has made considerable efforts to promote reaching an agreement between the coastal states on these stocks and we will continue to do so. But while no agreement is reached, we have a duty to protect Iceland’s share as well as possible, and this is the basis for these quota decisions.’
