THE GOVERNMENT stepped up pressure on the Icelandic and Faroe Islands authorities ahead of crucial EU talks next month on their increasing mackerel catches.
Minister of State for Fisheries Seán Connick said Iceland and the Faroe Islands would have to radically curtail their catches as their actions posed a serious threat to mackerel stocks.
He was speaking as EU fisheries and agriculture ministers met in Brussels, a meeting at which there was a cool response to EU Commission proposals to give member states the power to decide whether to cultivate genetically modified crops on their territory.
Iceland has increased its mackerel catch this year to a level 25 times greater than in 2006, which could have serious implications for Iceland’s difficult application to join the EU.
The country is already embroiled in a dispute with Britain and the Netherlands over compensation claims for €3.8 billion in deposits lost in its banking collapse.
“The amount of mackerel which Icelandic and Faroese vessels have taken out of the sea this year goes way beyond what they have ever fished before,” said fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki.
“If we are met with continuing exaggerated quota expectations from either the Faroe Islands or Iceland, then the EU will be ready to act, in particular, in relation to our annual fisheries arrangements with those countries.”
Such remarks represent an implicit threat to close EU fishing waters to Iceland, which would seriously erode efforts by its government to put its economy on an even keel.
The issue is sensitive for Dublin as mackerel is Ireland’s most important fishery.
“I made it clear that I will not accept a deal at any price,” Mr Connick said.
The commission’s proposals to devolve powers to member states to decide themselves whether to cultivate genetically modified crops follow years of deadlock over the development of European rules to oversee the sector.
As agriculture ministers gathered in Brussels, powerful states such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain aligned against the proposals.
“A large majority of the member states at this moment has lots of questions,” said Belgian agriculture minister Sabine Laruelle, whose country holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU. “It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to have a consensus or compromise on the proposal within one or two months.”
The EU authorisation system has been paralysed for more than a decade, with states split between countries opposed to the cultivation of modified crops and those who want to promote cultivation for economic reasons. Only two crops have thus far been passed for cultivation.
