EU set to bar Icelandic boats in "mackerel war"

Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck -

The European Union is to tell Iceland this week that it will impose sanctions on Icelandic fishing vessels in the "mackerel war" that has threatened Iceland's bid to join the bloc, an EU source said on Monday.

At a meeting on Thursday of the European Economic Area -- the EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein -- EU officials will reveal plans to refuse landings of mackerel from Icelandic boats at EU ports unless Iceland reduces its catch of the fish.

The EU source said Iceland seemed unlikely to comply.

Home to just 320,000 people but a major power in the Atlantic fisheries, Iceland began talks last year on joining the 27-nation EU in the hope of greater stability and financial security after the collapse of its banking system in 2008.

But the island has also sought to benefit from a surge in mackerel stocks in its waters, an apparent consequence of warmer sea temperatures. This has brought it into a conflict over catch quotas with Britain, Ireland and Norway, whose governments have traditionally managed mackerel quotas among themselves.

"The case will be presented at a special meeting with Iceland this week," the EU source said. However, no date for starting refusing Icelandic mackerel landings has been set.

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