Sunday, September 30, 2012

Iceland, Faroes may face EU fish sanctions

Terra Daily: Iceland and the Faroe Islands could face EU sanctions over "unsustainable" mackerel catches after an EU Fisheries Council agreement this week.

The EU Council Tuesday adopted a regulation under which sanctions can be slapped on non-EU countries that allow "non-sustainable fishing." Sanctions could include trade restrictions and limiting the use of EU ports by vessels flying the flag of the targeted country.

Norway and Scotland's regional government have been seeking EU sanctions against Iceland and the Faroes over their increased mackerel harvests in northeastern Atlantic Ocean waters.

The two countries unilaterally increased their take of the prized fish this year after four-way Coastal States talks (including the European Union, Faroe Islands, Iceland and Norway) to reach a mackerel deal failed to materialize for a third consecutive year.

Talks for 2013 mackerel quotas are to begin in October and now Norway and Scotland will be armed with the possibility of EU sanctions should the negotiations again fail to produce an agreement....

Whaling ships in the Reykjavik harbor, shot by Martin Sauter, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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