EU Threatens Iceland with Sanctions on Overfishing

The EU has issued a warning to Iceland that it will be banned from EU waters should it fail to scrap plans for an upping in mackerel catch, less than a month after the official launch of accession talks, reported EUobserver.com.

The same warning against overfishing has been issued to the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, which are part of Denmark, but not of the European Union.

"This escalating trend, whereby unjustifiably high mackerel fishing quotas had been set firstly by Iceland and now by Faeroe Islands for 2010, is in clear contradiction with the avowed objective of sustainable fisheries," said in EU fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki, adding that “Such actions risk causing the collapse of the northeast Atlantic mackerel stock, which would be to the detriment of all the fleets and industries concerned."

The EU commissioner threatened both countries with ban of access to European fishing waters should they fail to align their fish catch with EU policies.

In response, the Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners Association stated they single-handedly upped their mackerel quota in protest of the failure to include Iceland in fisheries negotiations for 2010 and the years before.

Iceland formally began negotiations to become a member of the EU on July 27. Fisheries are expected to be one of the most hotly contested issues in accession talks. Fishing is traditional to the North Atlantic country, and many believe it might not be compatible with EU's complex and binding common policy in the field.

The Nordic country is a member of the European Economic Area, having been party to the European Free Trade Association from as early as 1970. It has much of its law aligned with the acquis communautaire.

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