. | . |
EU ready for battle vs Iceland, Faroes in 'mackerel war'
Brussels (AFP) Sept 27, 2010 The European Union is ready to go to battle against Iceland and the Faroe Islands for overfishing mackerel, its fisheries chief Maria Damanaki said Monday. Slamming decisions by both to unilaterally increase their 2010 mackerel fishing quotas, Damanaki said she had received "a clear mandate" to negotiate with Iceland and the Faroe Islands from the EU's 27 agriculture ministers, who are meeting in Brussels. "We will not seek agreement at any price," she said. In the case of excessive demands "we are ready to act, in particular regarding our annual agreements with these countries" on other fish species. Negotiations for a longterm deal are due to resume in October. Saying climate warming has affected the migration of fish, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish province, raised their mackerel quota to 130,000 tonnes and 85,000 tonnes, respectively. Iceland's normal quota is 2,000 tonnes. The Faroes' self-set quota is three times higher than that in force over the past decade. The moves angered Scottish and Norwegian fishermen and the international environmental group WWF says the hike is way above levels deemed safe for the survival of the fish. Damanaki said the European Commission was not linking the dispute to talks on Iceland's bid to join the 27-nation bloc.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Water News - Science, Technology and Politics
Chinese fisherman released amid tensions Tokyo (UPI) Sep 27, 2010 Japan has refused to give China a formal apology for arresting a Chinese fishing vessel captain whom they released after nearly three weeks in detention. Diplomatic tensions remain high between the two countries, despite Capt. Zhan Qixiong being released by Japanese police. He was being held on Okinawa Island but has been returned to China. Earlier this month Japan released the 1 ... read more |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |