Industry leaders have warned slump in fish prices which would definitely increases hardship for the Scottish fishermen this autumn. Iceland decided to raise its cod quota and floods the market with fish which would push down the price of fish. Scottish fishing industry is already caught between ‘mackerel war’ that has seen Icelandic fishermen compared to marauding Vikings over foreign fish landings, Scots fishermen are bracing themselves for more difficulties when Iceland increases its cod quota by 10,000 tonnes to 160,000 tonnes.
Mike Park, the executive chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association, said that they will export more cod to the UK and that deflates the markets. He added that it is bad news when we are dealing with a reduction in the level of our cod landings. Normally, supply and demand would kick in and the price would go up. Iceland would suggest that they can increase their quotas because they are managing their stocks extremely well.
There has been fury over the decision of the Icelandic and Faroese governments to set their own mackerel quotas. Fishermen have twice mounted quayside blockades over the past two weeks to prevent Faroese trawlers from landing mackerel at Peterhead.
