As per media report Ireland is the latest European country to complain about Iceland’s mackerel fishing quota saying it would create a negative impact on Iceland’s membership discussion with the European Union. Irish authorities say they are supported by at least eight other EU member states and that a letter of complaint has been sent to Maria Damanaki, the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, because of this matter.
In his complain letter to Damanaki, Sean Connick, the Irish Minister for Fisheries and Forestry, wrote that the mackerel talks in May were unfruitful and that Iceland’s mackerel fishing not only threatens the mackerel stock, on which the livelihood of Irish fishermen depends, but also sets a poor example and encourages the Faroe Islands to overfish. He informed that the Irish mackerel quota is only half the annual Icelandic catch. Mackerel has been seen widely around Iceland in the past week and the phone at the Icelandic Marine Research Institute rings non-stop because of people reporting mackerel sightings.
Jónbjörn Pálsson, an employee of the institute, said recent reports include large schools of mackerel in Steingrímsfjördur and Húnaflói in northwest Iceland. Recently, mackerel entered the harbor areas of Kópavogur and Keflavík and residents caught the fish with their fishing rods, straight from the piers.
