The states agreed that the Faroe Islands will receive 12.6 per cent of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and the EU and Norway will share 71.8 per cent. A reserve quota was also set aside for Iceland, if it wishes to join the agreement.
The agreement was welcomed by Scottish fishermen who will benefit from an extra 100,000 tonnes of mackerel, after their total quota was agreed at over 210,000 tonnes which is roughly equivalent to 42 per cent of the total EU quota.
Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead commented: “After all these years waiting for a deal this agreement will bring welcome relief to the Scottish fishing industry."
Mr Lochhead also welcomed the news that from 1 April, Scottish fishermen will have access to Faroese waters following the first EU/Faroe fishing agreement since 2010, saying: “It will bring further security to our industry following the historic international mackerel agreement. For four years they have, through no doing of their own, been denied access to waters and quotas that will now be made available again."
There was further good news for the Scotland this week with the announcement that exports of Scottish salmon to the US are set to hit £200 million for the first time this year. The figures show that in 2013, the farmed salmon sector saw its sales value to the US rise from £155 million in 2012 to nearly £200 million, an increase of almost 30 per cent.
Asian shrimp farmers should soon know best practices to prevent the manifestation of Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS), also known as acute hepatopancreatic necrosis, thanks to a new study by the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA). The case study will act as a foundation for recommendations to the aquaculture community for better shrimp-farming practices.
In disease news, an outbreak of Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA) has been confirmed on a salmon farm in Kvænangen, Troms, Norway.
