May 19, 2010

Iceland raises inshore fishing quota

Iceland's Minister of Fisheries Jón Bjarnason has signed a regulation that sets a new groundfish quota of 6,000 tonnes, as against below 4,000 tonnes in 2009.

The number of fishing days per week is now four, from Monday to Thursday.

Coastal fishing, which is also known as summer fishing, has started between May 10 and 15.

This tonnage is not allocated to individual vessels as is the case with the conventional mainstream quota for the larger trawlers. When the 6,000 tonnes have been taken, the fishing is automatically stopped.

Coastal fishing was initiated in the summer of last year to help the inshore fishing industry and the economy. However, the industry is divided on the innovation.   Some felt it was a great success, adding life and sparkle to many of the small fishing ports around Iceland's coastline.

Others were not amused and felt that the coastal-fishing-quota would have been more economically utilised by the larger fishing companies which are in business all the year round.

Meanwhile, the Icelandic ash cloud which has grounded flights from Ireland and much of Scotland has so far not affected flights out of Reykjavik which means air freight fish from Iceland should reach the UK without too many problems.

Icelandic processors said the flights ban at the height of the ash crisis two weeks ago cost the industry up to GBP 100,000 (US$142,814.36) a day. Much of the fish that did not get through have been frozen, but that reduces the value by at least a third, say the producers.