The Icelandic Ministry of Industry and Innovation with responsibility for fisheries has mirrored Norway’s herring quota hike in setting this year’s quotas for Atlanto-Scandian herring and blue whiting.
The Minister responsible for fisheries and agriculture, Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, has set a 102,984 tonne Atlanto-Scandian herring quota for this year, a figure the Ministry claims as being in line with Iceland’s share according to the 2007 agreement and ICES recommendations, plus a 10% increase as a response to the unilateral Norwegian decision last year to increase its share from 61% to 67% of the overall fishery.
An initial quota for 150,000 tonnes of blue whiting has been set, with the reservation that this will be reviewed when other states set their own catch limits for 2017. According to a Ministry statement, with this decision the Icelandic government is not inclined to allow Iceland’s interests to suffer.
