UK fishermen will be able to continue fishing at 2015 quota levels next year, following talks on the fisheries agreement for 2016 between the UK Government, as part of an EU delegation, and the Faroe Islands.
The deal will ensure UK fishermen continue to be able to catch a number of valuable species in Faroese waters worth £3 million each year, including 817 tonnes of cod/haddock and 696 tonnes of saithe. An increase to blue ling/ling quota was also achieved, increasing the amount that can be caught in 2016 by 34 tonnes and bringing a total of 120 tonnes.
Commenting on the agreement, Fisheries Minister George Eustice said, “We have reached a positive conclusion to this year’s negotiations with the Faroe Islands which enables fishing to continue at the same level as last year. If we want a profitable fishing industry then we must fish within sustainable limits.”
However, the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association has expressed its bitter disappointed at the failure of the talks in Copenhagen to reduce access arrangements for Faroese vessels to catch mackerel in EU waters.
The Scottish pelagic sector had been pressing hard for a rebalancing of the access arrangements because they says they are skewed heavily in favour of the Faroese, enabling their fleet to catch almost a third of their mackerel quota in EU (mainly Scottish) waters.
Ian Gatt, chief executive of the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association, said, “We are bitterly disappointed at the outcome of these talks, which we regard as a missed opportunity to rebalance the agreement. The agreement continues to favour the Faroese greatly and we don’t understand why the EC failed to press for a fairer access arrangement. The Faroese are already being rewarded with a larger quota supposedly based on mackerel abundance in their own waters, so why do they need such a generous access share to fish for mackerel in Scottish waters?
“It delivers a negative impact on our valuable processing sector and undermines the Scottish Government’s five-point plan to deal with the current marketing difficulties for mackerel. It also means Marine Scotland Compliance will have a huge burden on its shoulders next year monitoring Faroese fishing activities in Scottish waters.”
