EU NEGOTIATIONS on the management of the mackerel stock shared with Norway and the Faroe Islands failed to reach agreement after a week’s session in Clonakilty, Co Cork.
The negotiations, which take place before the annual EU quota talks in Brussels, were held in Ireland for the first time, and were hosted by Minister of State for Fisheries Tony Killeen.
Delegates from the European Commission, EU states and Norway and the Faroe Islands participated.
The value of the mackerel catch for Irish fishermen is expected to be over €60 million this year, and is a key source of seasonal employment in Donegal, Galway, Kerry and Cork.
The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries said several factors, including Iceland’s unregulated fishery, made “the setting of an overall fishing level more difficult”.
However, a “significant amount of progress was made”, the department said, and the negotiations would resume this month at a venue “yet to be determined”.
