EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki welcomes the end of herring dispute with Faroe Islands. (Photo Credit: EC/Richard Ling/FIS/CC BY-SA 2.0)
EUROPEAN UNIONFriday, August 29, 2014, 23:20 (GMT + 9)
A week after the EU lifted its trade measures against the Faroe Islands on herring and mackerel, Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries received the Minister of Fisheries of the Faroe Islands, Jacob Vestergaard, in Athens.
The discussions were held in a friendly and constructive atmosphere and followed Commissioner Damanaki’s visit to the Faroe Islands in December last.
Both officials welcomed the recent normalisation of fisheries relations between the EU and the Faroe Islands. Discussions concentrated on the common objective that the Parties shared to ensure the sustainable management of the key pelagic stocks in the North Atlantic, namely, mackerel, Atlanto-Scandian herring and blue whiting, and the strategic partnership that could be developed in that regard in a new era of cooperation.
At a press point held after their meeting, Commissioner Damanaki made it clear that “the herring dispute is over” which was “good news for all sides”.
Future catch limits would have to be agreed among all five coastal states involved in this fishery in the North-East Atlantic.
“Until recently the EU and the Faroe Islands had disagreements about the sustainable management of mackerel, Atlanto-Scandian herring and blue whiting in the North East Atlantic. But the Faroe Islands agreed this summer to end their unsustainable fishery. So I am very happy to say that the EU last week lifted its trade measures that were imposed in reaction to the unsustainably high catch limits,” stated Commissioner Damanaki.
She said in the meeting full agreement was reached on three facts:
“First, we agreed that the herring dispute between the EU and the Faroe Islands is over. Faroese fishermen are back in EU waters and European fishermen have taken up their traditional fisheries in Faroese waters.
“Second, we agreed that we had a common objective: sustainable fisheries in the North-East Atlantic. If we want to continue fishing in these waters, we need to stick to the advice of our scientists on the state of the fish stocks.
“Third, we agreed that we needed to work hand in hand to reach this objective. We need to agree among all five coastal states in the North East Atlantic on our quotas: the European Union, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway and Russia. And the resolution of the bilateral dispute between the EU and the Faroe Islands is without prejudice to the outcome of our upcoming talks about the 2015 catch limits this autumn.”
Commissioner Damanaki expressed her desire that a strategic partnership could be developed by the EU and the Faroe Islands with these three facts in mind.
Related article:
- EU lifts herring-related measures against the Faroe Islands