The final meeting of the four coastal States, Iceland, the EU, Norway and the Faroe Islands, as well as the Russian Federation, on the management of mackerel fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic in 2012, was concluded in Reykjavík today. Unfortunately, no agreement was reached at the meeting.
At the meeting, Iceland put emphasis on ensuring a fair share for Icelandic vessels in the mackerel fishery, taking into account the fact that the stock migrates in large abundance into the Icelandic exclusive economic zone for feeding. Iceland further emphasized that the mackerel fishery should be in conformity with the advice of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) in order to ensure a sustainable fishery. When it became clear that no agreement would be reached on the allocation of quotas between the parties, Iceland proposed that all the parties would reduce their catches in the same proportion this year. This proposal was not accepted by the other parties.
Consequently, the parties will unilaterally determine their respective quotas for this year as has been the case in recent years. Iceland´s share has been limited to 16-17% of the total catches and accordingly the catch limit this year is expected to be around 145,000 tonnes.
Iceland will continue to stress the importance of reaching an agreement on the management of the mackerel fishery but in order to achieve that objective all the parties must contribute to an agreement. The coastal States consultations will be resumed next autumn with respect to the 2013 fishery.
