319 Rosa M. Fernández Egea Climate change and the sustainability... The tension dissipated, however, a few months ago after the European Union and the Faroe Islands entered into a number of political agreements concerning the allocation of catch quotas for mackerel stocks in the North Sea and Atlanto-Scandian herring stocks. The fact that an agreement has been reached is a positive step towards ending the trade and fishery tensions between the coastal countries and achieving compliance with the obligation to jointly manage the fish stock enshrined in the UNCLOS. However, merely reaching an agreement does not necessarily mean that this will have a beneficial effect on the sustainability of the fish stocks concerned if the catch quotas agreed are unreasonable. On this point, in the first of the agreements, the Faroe Islands’ catch limit for mackerel stock was increased significantly, from 4.6% to 12.6%, and it is expected see a further increase next year.50 The agreement provides for a catch of 1,047,000 tonnes in 2014, which exceeds the limit recommended by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (889,886 tonnes) by 18%.51 With regard to herring, the Faroe Islands has set itself a quota of 40,000 tonnes for 2014, which represents a significant reduction over the 2013 quota of 105,230 tonnes.52 However, with the total quota recommended by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea being 419,000 tonnes for all coastal States, the Faroe Islands’ share should not exceed 21,500 tonnes in order to guarantee the sustainability of this fish stock.53 Another important issue is that the agreements provide for catch limits that exceed the minimum sustainability requirements recommended by scientists and, moreover, do not include the catches made by coastal States that are not parties to the agreements. In response to these criticisms, the EU could well say that the political agreements put an end to the disproportionate quota unilaterally set by the Faroe Islands for 50 Article in FIS, “Northwest Atlantic mackerel stock agreement brings about mixed feelings”, 14 March 2014; available at: http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?l=e&id=67161&ndb=1 (last visited 12/7/2014). 51 Article in FIS, “Mackerel catches in Northeast not to be increased, recommended ICES”, 7 October 2013; available at: http://fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?l=e&id=63957&ndb=1 (last visited: 12/7/2014). Press release from the Icelandic Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Mr Sigurdur Johannsson, “The EU, The Faroe Islands and Norway take full responsibility for overfishing”, available at http://eng.atvinnuvegaraduneyti.is/publications/news/nr/8094, 13 March 2014 (last visited: 12/7/2014). 52 Vide “recital” 3 of Implementing Regulation 896/2014. 53 Article in The Grocer, “Herring wars over as Faroe Islands strikes deal with EU”, 12 June 2014, available at: http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/fmcg/fresh/herring-wars-over-as-faroe-islands-strikes-deal-with- eu/358439.article (last visited: 12/7/2014).
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