This past January, The Faroe Islands, an archipelago and island group technically under the sovereignty of Denmark, announced that it would withdraw from from an international fisheries agreement between the European Union, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, and Russia in order pursue its own national interests. The autonomous island nation announced that it would harvest approximately three times as much herring as the international agreement had granted. That agreement, Today, the Port Authority at Peterhead, Scotland, announced that it would enforce all trade sanctions against the Faroese in accord with European Union sanctions.

The Faroese are located in the Norwegian Sea north of the UK, about half way between Iceland and Norway.

In question is the quota of Atlanto Scandian herring, a herring distinct from other herring species found in the North Sea and to the West of Scotland.  According to Faroese Fishing Minister Jacob Vestergaard, the previous EU quotas failed to account for changes in distribution of the herring and their value to various countries. Scottish authorities have noted that the herring fisheries have remained strong because of strictly enforced international agreements.

This past June, the Marine Stewardship Council, the world’s leading certification and ecolabeling program for sustainable seafood, stripped the Faroese of its certificate for herring fishing due to the increase in national quotas beyond the international agreement.

The Faroese government has also noted their economic dependence upon  fisheries. Scottish Port Authority Chief executive of North-East Scotland has also expressed concern that the Faroese have increased their mackerel harvest in order to increase trade with Russian interests for other species of fish.

As the conflict between the small island nation and the EU escalates, conversations are beginning to emerge regarding similar problems with Iceland’s increase of national quotas beyond EU agreements as well.

Of course, these kinds of international fisheries rights issues have greater impact beyond the economic. Issues of sustainable fisheries practices and policies are at stake. And for those of us with vested interest in the world’s oceans and marine life, over-harvesting of any marine species introduces larger, systemic worries. Pelagic species like the Atlanto-Scandian herring serve as both predators and as food in oceanic ecosystems. To ignore these impacts beyond economic and political ramifications would be irresponsible.

FISH ON! 

 

Commercial Fishing, Faroe Islands, fish, Fishing, Herring

By Sid

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