Commission adopts trade measures on Faroe Islands
The Commission has adopted today a package of measures to address the continued unsustainable fishing of herring by the Faroe Islands. The measures include the ban of imports of, and restrictions on the use of EU ports by vessels fishing for, herring and the associated species of mackerel from the Atlanto-Scandian stocks, caught under the control of the Faroe Islands.
European Commissioner for Maritime and Fisheries Affairs, Maria Damanaki stated: "The imposition of such measures is always done as a very last resort. The Faroese could have put a stop to their unsustainable fishing but decided not to do so. It is now clear to all that the EU is determined to use all the tools at its disposal to protect the long-term sustainability of stocks."
Norway, Russia, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the EU managed until 2013 the Atlanto-Scandian herring stock through an agreed long-term management plan and through pre-established shares of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC). However, in 2013 the Faroe Islands unilaterally decided to break out of this agreement and established an autonomous quota which more than trebled their previously agreed share, thereby jeopardising the sustainability of the stock.
