Faroe Islands blast threat of EU sanctions in mackerel war

Terra Daily via AFP: The Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish territory, on Wednesday harshly criticised calls by Ireland and other EU countries for sanctions against it and Iceland for over-fishing of mackerel.

"This is a disturbing and very short-sighted approach from our closest European partners," Kate Sanderson, who heads the Faroese Fisheries, Trade and Regional Policy Office at the Faroese prime minister's office, told AFP.

Backed by France, Portugal and Spain, Ireland asked the European Commission Monday for information on potential trade measures against their north Atlantic neighbours, the latest chapter in what has been dubbed a 'mackerel war.'

EU fishing states are angry at high quotas set unilaterally by the Faroe Islands and Iceland on the grounds that global warming is pushing more mackerel north into their waters....

Mackerel shot by Ed Bierman, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license