Fishing Review 2011

An Escalating Crisis

If there has been one major benefit to the increased coverage that the practice of discards has gained in the last year, it is perhaps the greater public awareness of sustainably caught fish. In particular, there is now a more widespread knowledge of Marine Stewardship Council certification and hopefully more consumers looking for fish products that have achieved that standard.

MSC certification is an important indicator that the fish consumers buy in the shops has been sustainably caught. It provides added value to the product and the Scottish industry has been leading the way in achieving certification for several fisheries. Nowhere is that more the case than with the pelagic fleet, which earlier this year entered its fourth fishery for MSC assessment. If that it is successful, 98% of pelagic quota by volume and value will have achieved Marine Stewardship Council certification for being caught sustainably.

However, the sustainability of the fish stocks that the pelagic fleet relies on has been put under severe pressure by the reckless actions of Iceland and the Faroe Islands, in unilaterally setting their own Mackerel quotas. Mackerel represents the most valuable fishing stock of all to the Scottish economy, and was worth £135 million in 2009 as well as supporting around 2,500 jobs. It is absolutely integral to the local economy of Banff & Buchan and the threat that the pelagic fleet is currently facing is a crisis that we should all be concerned about.

Just a few years ago Iceland’s agreed Mackerel quota was 2,000 tonnes, yet it has set itself a unilateral quota of 147,000 tonnes for 2011. The Faroe Islands’ quota for the year should be 29,700 tonnes if it was abiding by the Coastal States management plan it signed up to, but instead it too has set itself a massively inflated quota of 150,000 tonnes.

These increases have no basis in scientific advice and represent a beggar-thy-neighbour approach of the most grossly irresponsible kind. If they were allowed to pass unchallenged, then the only options for existing mackerel fishing fleets would either be to catch less or allow the stock to be overfished, causing long term ruin. It is scarcely any wonder then that the Faroe Islands were rightly rejected in their attempt to apply for MSC certification of their Mackerel fisheries.

The sad fact is that the fishing industry has been here before, when a lack of international agreement on blue whiting led to a free for all and the decimation of that stock. A situation where there is no international agreement on how much each country is entitled to fish is quite simply a disaster for everyone.

It is not just the pelagic fleet which will be affected by the ongoing reckless behaviour of Iceland and the Faroes. As long as there is no agreement in place, parts of the whitefish fleet that fish in Faroese waters will be denied access to those fishing grounds. It is another obstacle which the fishing industry can ill afford.

What makes the behaviour of Iceland in particular all the more extraordinary is that it is a country which is currently seeking to join the European Union. How it expects to operate in an organisation which is based on reaching international agreements, when it is not even prepared to negotiate seriously on this issue is simply baffling.

The EU has responded robustly so far by banning the landing of Mackerel by Icelandic vessels in EU ports. However, that can by no means be the end of the pressure that the EU should be prepared to bring to bear and more meaningful sanctions against Iceland and the Faroes should follow. A successful resolution to the dispute should also be an absolute prerequisite before any discussion on accession to the EU for Iceland can take place.

The ongoing crisis in Mackerel fishing will not be resolved in any way other than through around the negotiating table. However, until Iceland and the Faroes are prepared to seriously negotiate, the SNP will continue to press for tough and sustained action from Europe in order to protect what is arguably our most successful, sustainable fishing fleet from these unacceptable smash and grab tactics.