Sir, – In Angling Notes (August 5th) it was claimed that Iceland has set “large” and “unsustainable” mackerel fishing quotas and has “refused to engage in meaningful negotiations” to prevent overfishing. This is not true. This year, Iceland lowered its mackerel catch again by 15 per cent to 123,182 tons, in alignment with scientific recommendations from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). While the EU and Norway also reduced their quotas, they have again claimed 90 per cent of the recommended catch level of 542,000 tons. This is a vastly oversized portion, particularly when up to 30 per cent of the entire mackerel population are in Iceland’s waters. It does not add up.
Since 2010, Iceland has repeatedly offered concrete proposals that would have solved the dispute. These efforts were rejected. Furthermore, Iceland has issued five public requests in 2013 alone to reconvene the coastal states for urgent talks. We are pleased that all parties have accepted our recent call to resume negotiations. We are confident that dialogue and diplomacy are the means to a solution in this dispute, not the illegal and counterproductive sanctions that some are threatening. – Yours, etc,
SIGURDUR INGI
JOHANNSSON,
Iceland’s Minister of
Fisheries and Agriculture,
Skúlagötu,
Reykjavik, Iceland.