The longstanding dissatisfaction over mackerel continues to be a highly sensitive issue as anger has erupted yet again. A Faroese vessel landing in Skagen was reported to have misreported amounts of mackerel mixed in with its cargo of blue whiting and Shetland fishermen have responded with anger.
According to the Shetland Fishermen’s Association, Faroese pelagic vessel Jupiter significantly under-reported its mackerel catch when landing at Skagen.
‘There remains considerable anger in Shetland and elsewhere in Scotland over the amount of mackerel Faroe is permitted to catch,’ Shetland Fishermen’s Association executive officer Simon Collins said.
‘But it seems that even this is not enough and now their vessels are allegedly disguising landings of fish caught to the west of Shetland. Talk about giving an inch and taking a mile, they were given a mile and now they are taking 20. This has to stop. We want a fair and well-managed fishery.’
The Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA) has demanded that the EU, UK and Scottish governments should suspend Faroese access and review the current arrangements.
The Faroese chief negotiator has responded to the SFA’s demands and has been quoted in the Shetland News as saying that Faroese fishermen are working strictly to the rules and the SFA comments are due to its reservations about the mackerel agreement with the Faroe Islands. He confirmed that the Faroese authorities are investigating a potential infringement by a Faroese vessel operating in Faroese waters, stressing that this is an isolated incident and should not be viewed in the same context as the mackerel agreement between the EU and the Faroe Islands.
