Why is Britain braced for a mackerel war? (BBC) {next species to be overfished?}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Andrew McFarlane
BBC News Magazine

Britain is said to be bracing itself for a re-run of its Cod Wars with Iceland - except this time the fish being fought over is mackerel. Yet, until recently, few were interested in a fish regarded as unclean.
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Iceland, which landed practically no mackerel before 2006, has allocated itself a 130,000-tonne quota. The Faroes, a collection of islands 250 miles north of Scotland, has tripled its usual entitlement
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The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices), on whose advice the European quotas are based, classifies stocks as at "full reproductive capacity". However, its latest report warns stocks have been significantly overfished since 2007 and the absence of effective international agreements prevents "control of the exploitation rate".

In the last two years, catches in Icelandic waters amounted to 18% of the total haul in the North-East Atlantic - none of which was taken into account before European quotas were agreed.

Smoked mackerel has become increasingly popular "You can't just add 200,000 tonnes to the quota without expecting some ramifications," says the Mareine Stewardship Council's James Simpson. "If the overfishing continues, stock will start to fall below sustainable levels in 2012."
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11062674

[closeupready]

1. I prefer cod and haddock.

{Insert holy mackerel joke here} :rofl:

[Submariner]

2. Overfishing mackerel will in turn reduce whats left of Atlantic salmon

stocks, and take away a food source for the humpback whale.

Nice going Europe.

[mike r]

3. Fighting over 'trash fish'

But then, not long ago lobster was looked upon as poverty food and field fertilizer.

We're just about eating the oceans to death.

[pscot]

4. If we are now reduced to fighting over mackerel

we are really at the brink. There are gale warnings flying everywhere.