In July 2019, Iceland communicated its decision to the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) to increase its unilateral quota for mackerel for 2019 from 107,000 to 140,000 tonnes. As a result, the share of the Icelandic unilateral quota has effectively increased to 21.5% of the overall TAC. Since 2014, they have had an average unilateral TAC of 16.5% - well in excess of the amount set aside for the three parties outside the agreement.
I am strongly opposed to this latest action by Iceland. Ireland, as the second largest shareholder in the EU, has led calls for strong measures to be taken in response to this unilateral and unsustainable action. The parties to the 2014 agreement, EU, Norway and Faroes have jointly written to Iceland demanding that they reverse this action. The situation has been exacerbated by both Greenland and Russia also increasing their unilateral quotas, albeit at a lower level. The EU, Norway and Faroes have also written to those countries.
The issue has been discussed at the Council Fisheries Working Party on a number of occasions and I also raised the matter at the Fisheries Council in Luxembourg this week.
The advice from ICES for the Total Allowable Catch for 2020 is 922,064 tonnes. This would equate to a 41% increase on the 2019 TAC of 653,438 tonnes. In my view, there is absolutely no reason for the full ICES advice not to be applied and this is the position that Ireland will be arguing for at the consultations taking place in London this week.
