Call for tougher mackerel sanctions

SCOTTISH fishing leaders are calling on the European Commission to step up sanctions against Iceland in the current mackerel dispute.

Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association chief executive Ian Gatt told the European Parliament’s fisheries committee on Tuesday that the sanctions announced this month against Iceland would have no impact on the island nation.

European fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki recently announced that all mackerel landings would be banned from EU ports after Iceland unilaterally increased its mackerel quota to 147,000 tonnes.

Scottish fishermen say such catch levels are unsustainable and threaten the stock and the future of pelagic fleets.

Iceland say the species have migrated into their waters, giving them the right to catch more fish.

Mr Gatt told the fisheries committee that if other countries took the same attitude they could catch all the mackerel before they reached Iceland or the waters around Faroe, which has taken a similar unilateral stance.

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“That’s simply no way to manage fisheries if we are to pass on healthy stocks and viable enterprises to the next generation,” he said.

He pointed out that Iceland has no history of landing whole mackerel in Europe, instead processing the species at home and exporting it as fishmeal.

“What we are saying is that you have to widen this out a bit to cover any of the fish they are processing themselves and exporting to the EU. Why should we take fishmeal products made with unsustainably caught mackerel? We shouldn’t.”

Mr Gatt said it was a major step politically to take out sanctions against a country applying for EU membership, but MEPs had to decide whether it was more important to enlarge the community of nations or protect existing members.

“It doesn’t seem very fair. We are members of a club and we are looking for protection and as far as I can see there is very little. For me this must be a choice between what is more important, enlargement or looking after existing members.”