EU fishing industry pushes back against mackerel agreement between UK, Norway, and Faroe Islands

Representatives of the European Union fishing industry are calling a mackerel quota agreement between the U.K., Norway, and the Faroe Islands disappointing in the face of continued overfishing of the stock. The governments of the U.K., Norway, and Faroe Islands agreed to a series of fisheries arrangements for the Northeast Atlantic mackerel stock – a stock shared between the three countries and the E.U., Iceland, and Greenland. In October, all six member states agreed to a total allowable catch (TAC) of 739,386 metric tons (MT) – in line with scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES).That agreement, however, does not specify how each member state will divide the TAC. The agreement between U.K., Norway, and Faroe Islands will see the three catching a total of 531,129 MT of the quota – leaving 208,257 MT, or 28 percent, of the TAC to the three remaining member states. In a release, the governments of the U.K., Norway, and Faroe Islands ...