Following Russia’s decision to set a unilateral mackerel quota of 67,548 tonnes, equivalent to 22.50% of the 2026 TAC and almost five times its 2004 share, NEAFC nations have adopted measures in response.
The proposal was tabled by the European Union. NEAFC member states the EU, the UK, Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Norway, and Iceland agreed that Russia’s mackerel catches in international waters should not exceed 1495 tonnes.
In addition, NEAFC member states are prohibited from facilitating Russia’s excessive fishing of mackerel, meaning vessels may not transship from, nor provide refuelling services to Russian fishing vessels that exceed that 1495-tonne limit.
The EU, the United Kingdom and Iceland have decided to apply these restrictions not only in international waters but also within their own jurisdictions. This includes a ban on Russian vessels carrying mackerel quantities above the agreed limit from entering their ports.
Despite Russia’s objection, these measures are expected to enter into force on 28th August 2026.
The European Commission is preparing the timely implementation of the measures into EU law.
The European Union has called on NEAFC partners to apply the mackerel measures within their jurisdictional waters and to consider additional measures, and to ban transhipments at sea in the NEAFC area in general as a matter of urgency, given that these are high-risk operations from a fisheries control perspective.
More than a hundred transhipments annually are carried out by Russian vessels in the NEAFC area without proper monitoring.
