Faroe Islands 2014
Yearbook 2014
Faroe Islands. Faeroe Islands population in 2020 is estimated at 48,874. Negotiations for mackerel quotas in the North East Atlantic for 2014 broke down in March. The Faroe Islands and Iceland had long pushed for increased quotas, but in the absence of a settlement, both islands had set their own quotas, were accused of over-fishing and subjected to EU sanctions.
After the collapse, however, negotiations continued between the EU, the Faroe Islands and Norway, where the three parties managed to reach a settlement without Iceland. The Faroe Islands received a quota of 156,000 tonnes of mackerel, almost half of Norway’s and a quarter of the entire EU’s quota.
This ended the mackerel war for the Faroe Islands, which received 12.6% of the total catch quota in the Northeast Atlantic. Critics stated that the quotas greatly exceeded the recommendations of the sea researchers. The agreement is five-year, and after 2014 the quotas will go down to recommended levels. Iceland’s finance minister accused the Faroe Islands of having gone behind Iceland with the EU and Norway.
During the summer, the herring war also ended for the Faroe Islands, which reached a settlement with the EU in the protracted conflict over catch quotas for herring in the North Atlantic. The EU has accused the Faroe Islands of fishing three times more than its allowable quotas and introduced penalties that prevented the Faroe Islands from exporting herring and mackerel to EU countries.
When the EU and Norway imposed sanctions on the Russian Federation during the year because of the war in Ukraine, the Faroe Islands made trade gains. Russian counter-sanctions hit the large Norwegian salmon industry, which accounted for about 80% of Russian imports of farmed salmon. The Faroe Islands were able to take advantage of the demand that arose, and when salmon became a scarce commodity in Moscow, prices went up. Thus, the Faroe Islands were able to multiply their salmon exports at prices that were higher than for several decades. The Faroese company Bakkafrost received higher revenue than any other listed salmon company in the world, the share increased by 30% and the company’s market value was estimated at just over DKK 6 billion.
The head of the Faroe Islands, Kaj Leo Johannesen, traveled to Moscow in September, where he met with the Deputy Minister of Fisheries, criticized the EU’s sanctions policy and promised increased exports. The Danish Foreign Minister was critical and warned the Faroe Islands to exploit and profit from the situation that arose because of the Russian boycott against the EU.
