Scientific advice on a 22 per cent cut in the total allowable catch (TAC) for mackerel has prompted the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation (KFO) to call for action on Nordic countries setting unilateral quotas.
The advice for 2025 has been issued by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) due to what it says is a steep decline in the stock biomass.
The KFO notes that the size of the stock has fallen while fishing effort in northern waters on larger and older fish has increased exponentially, particularly in the summer months when traditionally little fishing occurred.
KFO chief executive Dominic Rihan said that “the blame for the dire state of the stock lies firmly with the Nordic countries that have set unilateral quotas in the last number of years and massively increased fishing effort to try and justify these inflated quotas”.
“Compare this to EU fishermen who have fished sustainably within their quotas. The result is clear for all to see, the stock is close to collapse,”he says.
The KFO says that “to catch these unwarranted unilateral quotas, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Russia and this year even Norway fished mackerel in international waters during the summer, when the fish are in poor condition after spawning”.
In 2023, significant proportions of these mackerel catches were turned into fishmeal in Norway due to their poor quality, the KFO says.
It says that “this is against all principles of sustainability and has had a long-lasting and damaging effect on the mackerel stock”.
“Large increases in fishing effort by the Russian Federation, leading to significant unreported and unregulated catches has added to the decline in the stock,”it says.
KFO chair Ciaran Doherty said that “what is going on in Norwegian and International waters with intensive fishing for small catches of low-quality mackerel defies logic. This is all about creating spurious zonal attachment arguments to justify overfishing in the extreme. The damage they have done to the stock is now clear to see”.
The scientific advice will be discussed by the Coastal States group of EU, UK, Norway, Faroes, Iceland and Greenland, that meet annually under the auspices of the Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC).
The negotiations in October are expected to be contentious considering the stark scientific advice and agreeing on a TAC level that provides protection to the stock will be challenging, the KFO says.
“ For Irish fishermen any cut in quota for 2025 will have a disastrous impact, coming on the back of Brexit. Contrast to the Nordics, who, by inflating their quotas over the last few years, have already built in a buffer to protect themselves from such reductions.
Rihan said that it is “vital that the Minister for the Marine and the EU calls out the inexcusable and irresponsible actions of the Nordic countries and take action to halt the decline in the stock before it collapses”.
“Words alone will not put mackerel back into the sea, the EU must act to protect the interests of Irish and EU fishermen who have acted responsibly and fished within their quotas. The EU needs to act decisively and negotiate an equitable comprehensive agreement with all coastal states that reflects historic fishing patterns and gives the stock a chance to recover,”Rihan added.
