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Skippers and crewmen stage Peterhead protest over mackerel catches


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#1 carolmac

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Posted 11 August 2010 - 07:06 AM

Courtesy of Press & Journal 6/8/10


Skippers and crewmen stage Peterhead protest over mackerel catches
Fishermen act to block Faroese landing




Fishermen staged a protest at a north-east harbour yesterday in an escalating row over landing fish from Iceland and the Faroe Islands at EU ports.

About 20 skippers and crewmen from the region’s pelagic fleet gathered on the quayside at Peterhead as a Faroese crew attempted to offload almost 900 tonnes of mackerel.

They were angry that local firm Lunar Freezing had agreed to take delivery of the fish despite calls this week for an industry blockade of mackerel landings to the EU by vessels from the two countries.

Police were called as protesters moved their cars and vans to block Lunar vehicles from collecting the fish from the Faroese trawler Jupiter, which was tied up at the port.

A spokeswoman later said it had been a peaceful protest and no further police action would be taken.

Gardenstown skipper George West, 53, said there was a feeling of “betrayal” among the group.

Mr West, who owns Resolute and fishes out of Fraserburgh, said: “Iceland and the Faroe Islands are showing complete disregard for the wider pelagic industry by setting their own quotas.

“Their behaviour is simply not acceptable and poses a real threat to the livelihoods of hundreds.”

He added: “Just this week there have been meetings calling for a ban on landing mackerel caught by boats from these countries at ports across the EU.

“But here we have a local company with a good working relationship with all of us, ignoring these calls and flying in the face of what has been discussed.

“We all feel betrayed by what they are doing.”

Concerns have been raised in recent weeks that Iceland and Faroe are catching mackerel outside accepted biological limits.

The European Association of Fish Producers Organisations (EAFPO) said the countries acted “outrageously” by moving to secure quotas of 130,000 and 85,000 tonnes respectively.

Industry leaders in the EU and Norway fear it could lead to the depletion of valuable fish stocks.

Norway has already banned landings of mackerel by Icelandic and Faroese boats and called on the EU to do the same.

A joint statement from the EAFPO, the Norwegian Fishermen’s Association and Norwegian Seafood Federation released earlier this week said Iceland and Faroe were ignoring scientific advice for “this most important pelagic stock”.

The statement – the result of an industry meeting in London on Tuesday – said authorities should close ports and their 200-mile zones to all Icelandic and Faroese fishing boats.

Anger
A spokesman for Lunar Freezing said: “We will not dignify this with a comment.”

Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead MSP said: “I share the anger of Scottish fishermen over the irresponsible actions of the Faroe Islands and understand the depth of feeling that led to the factory blockade in Peterhead.

“By setting a unilateral mackerel total allowable catch far in excess of their previous share, both the Faroe Islands and Iceland have taken short-sighted and selfish decisions that could be disastrous for global mackerel stocks.

“I will be taking this issue up once again with European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki and calling on her to make clear that the EU finds such actions unacceptable and to set out the consequences of these actions.”



Read more: http://www.pressandj...4#ixzz0wGtAN8vM

#2 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 11 August 2010 - 08:18 AM

Courtesy of the Independent On Line @ http://www.independe...el-2049099.html

Quote

Now Britain and Iceland go to war over the mackerel

By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

Wednesday, 11 August 2010

The European Union could impose trade sanctions against Iceland or stop its ships from entering EU ports in an emerging "mackerel war".

In an echo of the 1970s "Cod War" when British gunboats were sent to ward off Icelandic trawlers in disputed waters, the EU has warned it will take "all necessary measures" to protect its fishing and economic interests.

The rising tension follows Iceland's unilateral decision to catch three times as much mackerel this year as the EU considers reasonable, prompting a similar move by the Danish-owned Faroe Islands. Together with the amounts traditionally taken by the EU and Norway, the quotas would exceed the sustainable catch by a third and threaten a success story in European fishing, which has been dogged by political dithering and national self-interest.

Iceland – which traditionally has a reputation for good stewardship of fish – insists it has the right to catch any fish it wants within its 200-mile territorial limit, established during the Cod War. The Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners defended its behaviour as "legal and responsible".

After failing to resolve the dispute – which Brussels says threatens to wreck international fishing agreements, Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said on Monday the EC would be sending a "very clear message" to the two states demanding a sustainable deal.

She added: "However, should the current anarchic situation in the mackerel fisheries continue with unreasonable positions being maintained by parties, then the Commission will contemplate all necessary measures to conserve the mackerel stock and safeguard EU interests."

The EU, which suspects Iceland's decision is being driven by the parlous state of its economy, says it will consider abandoning all fishing agreements with the states – which could spell chaos to efforts to conserve stocks such as cod. Another possibility is trade sanctions, or preventing Icelandic boats from landing their fish in EU ports.

In a sign of its anger, Norway has already banned fish processors from accepting any mackerel landed by Icelandic or Faroese boats.

Tempers are also running high in Scotland, where mackerel is more valuable than haddock or cod. Last week 20 fishermen from Peterhead and Fraserburgh used vans and cars in a bid to prevent the Faroese vessel the Jupiter from unloading 900 tonnes of mackerel at Peterhead.

In a further reverberation, the UK, Norway and other fishing nations might seek to damage Iceland's hopes of joining the EU, or use negotiations to encourage it to back down. The Scottish Fisheries Secretary, Richard Lochhead, said yesterday: "I am greatly encouraged by the commitment being shown by the EU on this and hope that these matters will be at the fore of Iceland's EU accession negotiations."

With co-operation between interested fishing nations and consumer demand buoyed by advice to eat oily fish, mackerel had been hailed by the Marine Stewardship Council as an example of a good fishery. For 10 years, the EU, Norway and the Faroe Islands had a trilateral agreement, apportioning fixed shares of the total catch recommended by scientists. But two years ago – arguing that shoals were moving north due to climate change – Iceland began large-scale fishing and set a catch of 115,000 tonnes for 2009.

Helsinki increased that to 130,000 tonnes this year, when scientists were recommending a decline in the total overall catch. The Faroe Islands, which had a 4 per cent share of the deal with the EU and Norway, announced it would take 85,000 tonnes, a 16 per cent share. Assuming all the parties catch their expected quotas, 772,000 tonnes will be caught this year, 35 per cent more than the 570,000 tonnes recommended by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas.

Accusing Iceland of "piracy", Bertie Armstrong – head of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation – said: "We would classify that as the abandonment of rational fisheries management."

At Westminster, UK Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, was more diplomatic: relations between Britain and Iceland are already strained due to Labour's decision to freeze the assets of the Landsbanki bank during the financial crisis two years ago.

Mr Benyon said: "Mackerel is one of the most sustainable fisheries, due to the action that EU member states have taken in successfully managing the stocks. This is being put at risk by the setting of arbitrary quota.

"I do not want to see this issue cause a deterioration in the otherwise good relationships between our respective industries and I urge both Iceland and Faroe Islands to reconsider their actions."

The 1970s Cod War

Iceland has always jealously guarded its fishing rights, so much so that a row that erupted in the 1970s almost brought Helsinki and London to the brink of military action.

The "cod war", a more serious version of an earlier row over fishing rights that took place between the two states in the 1950s, began in 1972 when Iceland announced a unilateral extension of its fishing rights from 13 miles off its coast to 50 miles. Ostensibly the reason was to reduce over-fishing, but it hit British boats catching cod and other whitefish in the same waters and London protested the move. Iceland's coastguard began cutting the nets of British trawlers straying into its new, enlarged waters. As a result, Prime Minister Edward Heath sent Royal Naval warships and tug-boats to protect British fishing crews. There were some incidences of boats being rammed.

With the row still simmering, in 1975 Iceland extended its fishing rights again, to 200 miles. Britain protested again – but Iceland laid down its trump card by threatening to close the Keflavík Nato base, crucial for defending the Atlantic Ocean from attack by the Soviet Union. Iceland finally got its way and, after 1 December 1976, Britain agreed its ships would not fish within 200 miles of Iceland.

Since the "war", the two countries' fishing industries have fared very differently. Iceland – which is thought to have stayed out of the EU in order to protect its fishing industry – is acknowledged to run fisheries responsibly, allowing other species caught by accident to be traded between boats and landed, rather than thrown back into the sea.

By contrast, the EU Common Fisheries Policy, which Britain joined on its accession to the Common Market in 1973 – is considered to have been a disaster. A third of all fish are thrown back dead from boats, either because they are the wrong species, a legal but imperfect size, or the quota has already been met.

As a result, cod in the North Sea has plunged to 3 per cent of its natural abundance, despite a recent recovery. And much of the cod sold in Britain now comes from Iceland.


#3 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 11 August 2010 - 04:08 PM

Courtesy of Fish Update.com @
@ http://www.fishupdat...t_mackerel.html

Quote

Iceland sends super trawler to target mackerel

Published:  11 August, 2010

ICELAND is continuing to defy the European Union and Norway over its controversial mackerel quota with two of its main fishing companies announcing  maximum effort.

In fact one of them, Samherji, has brought the 7,800 ton Kristina EA, the largest ship in the Icelandic fishing fleet up from the Canary islands to hunt for mackerel and herring in Icelandic waters.

Kristina (previously the Engey RE) came in to the ownership of Samherji three years ago  and has been on hire since then, fishing off the shores of Africa. The Captain of Kristina EA is Arngrímur Brynjólfsson and his crew counts 35. The ship is equipped with powerful and highly technical processing and freezing machinery and the catch will all be processed on board.

Meanwhile, HB Grandi's pelagic fleet is back in the hunt for mackerel and herring after a short break. All three vessels stopped fishing recently  to fit in with the Vopnafjördur factory’s break in production and are back at sea now to have raw material for production to resume next week. So far this season HB Grandi’s pelagic vessels have landed 7300 tonnes of Atlanto-Scandian herring, with 23,000 tonnes remaining of their quota. The company says that catches of mackerel have been heavier, with 11,150 tonnes landed so far, leaving 4,400 tonnes of the quota  to be caught.

Up to last weekend the total catch by Icelandic vessels was 75,000 metric tons, 58 per cent of its self declared quota of 130,000 tons. The Faroe Islands have also given themselves a quota of 85,000 tons, much to the anger of the EU. Yesterday the Scottish Fishermen's Federation urged the Faroese to give up the quota.

The Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners Association has said that its country  has “every right to fish for mackerel within the Icelandic jurisdiction” just as Norway and the EU have the right to fish for mackerel in their respective jurisdictions.


#4 markh

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Posted 24 August 2010 - 09:52 PM

bit more background to this here as well:

http://www.bbc.co.uk...gazine-11062674



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