Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead has welcomed this week's joint statement by the European Commission and Norway regarding the mackerel quotas of the Faroe Islands and Iceland.
Date:
Fri, 29 Jul 2011
Source:
Scottish Government
Scottish Government:
website
A public rebuke of the mackerel fishing practices of Iceland and the Faroes has been made by the European Commission and Norway in a joint statement that they are 'deeply concerned about the irresponsible actions of Faroe Islands and Iceland in setting excessive unilateral quotas for their 2011 mackerel fisheries'.
The statement echoes concerns raised by Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead and it follows an industry meeting on Monday, including Scottish fishermen, attended by EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki and Norwegian Fisheries Minister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen.
Mr Lochhead said:
"I welcome the joint statement from the EU and Norway, which echoes what I have repeatedly been calling for; that action is needed to address the irresponsible and damaging overfishing of the mackerel stock. Once again, I raised this with Commissioner Damanaki when I met with her earlier this month.
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