Following its boost to mackerel quotas for 2017, Iceland has also increased this year’s blue whiting quota.
According to an announcement by the Ministry of Fisheries, the blue whiting quota is increased by 57% compared to last year’s quota.
The 2016 quota was 168,000 tonnes and this year the quota has been lifted from the initial 150,000 tonne provisional quota set at the beginning of the year to 264,000 tonnes. The provisional quota was set with the proviso that a final decision would be taken once it was clear where other nations would peg their blue whiting allocations for 2017.
250,000 tonnes of the 264,000 tonne quota is allocated direct to fishing vessels and the remainder is kept back for later allocation.
The Ministry’s announcement sets out that only 218,000 tonnes of the quota may be caught in Faroese waters, limiting each vessel to catching 82.50% of its quota in the Faroese EEZ.
