Russian market players closely watching NE Atlantic mackerel quota developments

Russian market players are closely watching mackerel quota developments in a hope the stock will not follow the ill-fated blue whiting, to take a recent example, according to http://www.megafishnet.com/. 

The thing is that for some three years the mackerel quotas in the North Eastern Atlantic have been set in fact in a unilateral mode by coastal nations to potentially cause an abrupt dive the blue whiting way.

Meanwhile so far the stock has reportedly kept good shape and for 2012 Russia has reserved the right to harvest ca 74 thousand metric tons in the Faroe Fishing Zone and NEAFC waters put together. Despite the fact, that the quota in the FFZ was actually halved the balance has been restored to the level of 2011 by an increase in the international waters of the Norwegian Sea. The downfall in the Faroe waters is linked with the swap of mackerel for Russia's bottom species in the Barents Sea. Russia primarily gets blue whiting in exchange and the fish are scarce mackerel increases and this way round.

Quotas for blue whiting fishery and actual catches in the NE Atlantic in 2009 - 2012, ‘000 tonnes

Notes:

• - Catch data of EU and The Faroe Islands in 2011 are not available in Russian official records. According to media reports, the Faroes took their quota fully last year.
• - In 2011 the Russian fishermen were allowed to take a proportion of the FFZ mackerel quota in the NEAFC waters and that was successfully accomplished.
• - As per mid-July information about Icelandic mackerel quota was not available.