The European Commission and the Faroe Islands have reached a political understanding to end their dispute on the management of Atlanto-Scandian herring in the North-East Atlantic. This agreement between European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, and the Minister of Fisheries of the Faroe Islands, Jacob Vestergaard, comes after a lengthy dialogue between Faroese and EU officials in recent months.
As part of the understanding, the Faroe Islands agreed to put an end to their unsustainable herring fishing whilst the Commission would submit a draft regulation repealing the trade and access to EU port restrictions that were adopted against the Faroe Islands in August 2013. The regulation will be examined by EU Member States before it can be adopted.
Both sides have also reached an understanding on the termination of proceedings initiated by the Faroe Islands, as a response to EU measures, at the World Trade Organization and in the context of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Maria Damanaki said Faroese fishermen will be able to come back to EU waters and European fishermen can continue their traditional fisheries in Faroese waters. “Let’s now focus on working hand in hand towards sustainable fisheries in the North-East Atlantic,” she added.
The EU’s relations with the autonomous Danish territory has been suffering from differing points of view on the management of the stocks of mackerel and herring in northern Atlantic waters in the past years.
Following the unilateral increases in mackerel catch by the Faroe Islands in 2010, the normal bilateral exchanges of fishing rights had been interrupted, which made fishermen from both parties unable to fish in their traditional fishing grounds in each other’s fishing zone.
The on-going understanding on herring is expected to be the end of the disputes and the beginning of a better collaboration between the two parties. The agreement reached at political level is currently being implemented on both sides.
2014 RTTNews