Iceland vessel owners unhappy with new EU plans
Iceland’s fishing leaders were reported this week to be keeping a close watch on current debate turmoil within European Union states over how its fishing industry should be managed over the next few years.
Iceland has applied for EU membership – a move strongly opposed by the country’s fishing vessel owners – and it is almost certain that her rich fishing stocks will become a key factor in negotiations.
In the meantime a new Common Fisheries Policy is likely to emerge before 2012 and the signs are that the EU will decide that the current system of quantity quotas which are allocated to the member states for each species will be scrapped after years of controversy and criticism by fishermen.
Instead fishery management is likely to be replaced by the allocation of fishing days for individual vessels which should put an end to the hated practice of throwing good fish back into the sea simply because the quotas have been reached.
But Morgunbladid, Iceland’s main daily newspaper, said there are serious fears in the industry that this proposal could put Iceland at a serious disadvantage because it leads to a very loose control over the actual qualities of fish taken out of the sea.
Adolf Gudmundsson, Chairman of Iceland´s National Federation of Fishing Operators, told the paper that his organisation was not fond of fisheries management based on fishing days. “This is was a method initially used by Iceland but soon found to be inadequate and it was subsequently abandoned,” he added.
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