Iceland minister: 'it’s our right' to fish mackerel

Scottish fishermen have expressed fury that Iceland and the Faroe Islands have massively increased quotas of the fish they can catch.

The Faroe Islands, which is an autonomous Danish territory that is not bound by European Union rules, said it will catch 85,000 tonnes.

Iceland has decided to increase its quota to 130,000 tonnes, compared to the usual 2,000 tonnes agreed upon in an accord with the EU, the Faroe Islands and Norway in 1999.

But speaking from Reykjavík, the Icelandic fisheries minister Jon Bjarnason told Channel 4 News that his country's trawler fish was entitled to catch the fish within its waters.

"Absolutely yes because it is our right to do so as a coastal state and it is a huge amount of mackerel in the Icelandic fisheries zone, but of course we want to come to an agreement with our countries who are getting mackerel."

Iceland and the Faroe Islands have been accused of exploiting the growing numbers of mackerel numbers, which have boomed since the imposition of conservation restrictions agreed by other European nations under the Common Fisheries Policy.

But Bjarnason said global warming provided a better explanation as to why the increasing numbers of the fish had moved north into Icelandic waters.

"The change in the temperature in the water is changing, we're getting a higher temperature in the water around Iceland and I suppose therefore the mackerel is coming in such a huge amount as it is," he said.

"I think is global warming, it is a change in nature over the past year". The decision to increase quotas by Iceland and the Faroe islands have sparked outrage from the Scottish government.

Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead described the decision as "wholly unacceptable", and said it risked harming well-managed stocks of the fish.

The dispute began last year after talks between the EU, Norway and the Faroe Islands to set the annual mackerel quotas for 2010 broke down.

Europe and Norway set their own quotas unilaterally, which they said was in line with previous years.

The Faroese trebled their quota, arguing that migrating mackerel shoals have been steadily moving north as the Atlantic warms.

However Iceland has been warned that its stance risks scuppering its chances of joining the European Union.

A leaked letter by the EU fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki described its position as "unjustified", said she suggested that the move "risks impacting negatively" on accession negotiations.

Her spokesman told Channel 4 News the EU could retaliate by withdrawing all rights for Icelandic and Faroese trawlers to catch any fish in European waters.