Marine

UK, Norway and Faroe Islands mackerel agreements

June 20, 2024 by Marine Directorate Communications No Comments | Category fish stocks, Fisheries, fisheries agreement

The UK has, this week, signed agreements with Norway and Faroe setting out arrangements on mackerel for 2024 onwards. These agreements build on our already strong relationships with Norway and the Faroe Islands, two of our closest Coastal State partners, and are a complimentary layer to the bilateral arrangements we already have.

The structure of the package is fourfold:

1. Norway and the Faroe Islands have agreed to reduce the shares they set themselves for mackerel, an immediate reduction in fishing pressure by 10 percentage points of the global total allowable catch (TAC). This represents a significant step towards our long-held goals of ensuring a sustainable fishery, while wider sharing discussions continue

2. in addition to these reductions, both Parties will transfer a proportion of their remaining allocation to the UK. These exchanges will deliver additional opportunities to the UK worth approximately £41 million in 2024

3. in return for the quota transfers, Norwegian and Faroese vessels will be granted access to fish a proportion of their opportunities in UK waters

4. within the Agreed Records, the Parties reaffirm their commitment to the long-term sustainable management of the mackerel stock. This includes a commitment to continue to engage in discussions between Coastal States to agree a comprehensive sharing arrangement for the stock, and to hold timely consultations should one or more Coastal States indicate an interest in joining these interim arrangements

If no comprehensive sharing arrangement for the stock is agreed, these arrangements will remain in place until at least 2026. Additionally, the UK share will increase in 2025 through the implementation of the UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Wider sharing consultations will continue in the autumn, and Scotland will continue to put our full energy behind these talks, seeking agreements which are based on robust evidence, and are as comprehensive as possible, ensuring the sustainability of this stock and fisheries in the long term.

The Agreed Records have been published on the Scottish Government website.

Tags: Faroe Islands, mackerel, Norway UK bilateral fisheries agreement, Norway. fisheries. quota, Total Allowable Catch, UK Norway Faroe Islands agreement, UK-Faroe bilateral

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