ABERDEEN, Scotland, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- North Sea nations should take the necessary steps to manage their fishing fleets, the Scottish fisheries secretary said in Scotland.
Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead was host to North Sea delegates at an Aberdeen conference to discuss best management practices in the fisheries sector.
Lochhead said current fisheries polices are failed and damaged, noting an end to wasteful fishing practices coupled with greater regional control is the right way forward for the North Sea community.
A declaration signed in Aberdeen, the Ardoe Declaration, called on participants to "take all possible steps to account for and manage catches by their fishing fleets -- without the discarding of dead fish back in to the sea."
European lawmakers complained last week that Iceland and the Faroe Islands are exploiting European accomplishments in the management of mackerel stocks.
The Scottish government has expressed frustration with the Faroe Islands over its decision to set a quota for mackerel of more than 85,000 tons, which Edinburgh said was more than three times the previous total allowable catch.
The decision follows a move by Iceland to set its own unilateral quota of more than 130,000 tons of mackerel per year.
