Damanaki pledges tough action on mackerel – Fishupdate.com

Damanaki pledges tough action on mackerel Published:  28 September, 2010

MARIA Damanaki, the European Fisheries Commissioner, has pledged to get tough

MARIA Damanaki, the European Fisheries Commissioner, has pledged to get tough with Iceland and the Faroe Islands on the mackerel over fishing issue.She said yesterday that she was ready to “go into battle” with these two fishing states, if necessary.However, she also held out an olive branch saying that she was ready to negotiate a fair settlement. She said: “”We will not seek agreement at any price,” she said. In the case of excessive demands “we are ready to act, in particular regarding our annual agreements with these countries” on other fish species. Preliminary talks were held at the EU AgriFish Council in Brussels yesterday, but the real substantive talks are scheduled for London in the middle of next month.Iceland has angered the EU and Norway – and Scottish fishermen in particular – by giving itself a mackerel quota of 130,000 tons, claiming that the warming of the seas has affected the migration of fish, sending the mackerel further north. Two years ago Iceland’s normal mackerel quota was just over 2,000 tons. The Faroe Islands has given itself 85,000 tons, three times its normal quota.Meanwhile, Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond has complained in a letter to Prime Minister  David Cameron that Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead isn’t allowed to speak before a Monday meeting at the European Union’s AgriFish council meeting in Brussels.He said in a letter to Mr Cameron: “Scotland needs to keep pressing for strong action from the EU over the unilateral quotas set by Iceland and the Faroe Islands.Our fishing communities need strong action — and it’s also what needs to be done to protect the health of our mackerel stocks.”