Mackerel quota agreed

THE THREE sides involved in sharing out next year’s north east Atlantic mackerel quota have reached an agreement after one week of talks in Bergen.

A total allowable catch of 1,054,000 tonnes has been set following scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.

After this has been shared out between the European Union, Norway and Faroe, the UK will receive a quota for 2015 of 245,363 tonnes.

The agreement was welcomed by Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association chief executive Ian Gatt.

“We welcome that agreement has been reached at this stage in the negotiating process as it brings stability and certainty for the 2015 fishery,” he said.

“A new long-term management plan is also being worked upon for the mackerel stock and Scottish pelagic fishermen are committed to being closely involved in the development process.”

Meanwhile the Scottish Pelagic Processors’ Association has warned that fish factories like Shetland Catch in Lerwick are likely to lose out from Faroe taking a large share of the mackerel quota.

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Chairman Ian McFadden said Faroese vessels were now fishing for premium condition mackerel in Scottish waters, but landing them in Faroe for tax reasons.

He said Faroese vessels were charged £200 a tonne for landing mackerel outside their home islands, representing 30 per cent of the value of the fish.

“This is a real disappointment to the Scottish processing industry when there has been a willingness from Faroese vessels to land to Scottish processors as they did in the past,” McFadden said.

“Added to this we are seeing others access markets we can’t. The Russian trade embargo has cut off a key market for us and opened it to significant deals with processors in Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

“And now we believe the Faroe Islands are close to a free trade agreement with Turkey. This is another good market for mackerel but we are excluded by high import duty.

“While we appreciate these issues cannot be addressed during this week’s TAC negotiations, we urge politicians and representatives in industry to address these unfair trading conditions.

“Mackerel processing alone is worth over £324 million to the economy and supports around 2,260 jobs.”