Fisheries

The Faroes have full jurisdiction over fisheries within the 200 mile Faroese fisheries zone.

The Faroes plateau is a productive ecosystem where the warm waters of the Gulf Stream mix with cold arctic waters, providing a good basis for robust stocks of groundfish, the most important of which are cod, haddock and saithe. The banks are an independent ecological province under Faroese jurisdiction. The slopes and the deep-sea are parts of larger ecological provinces, shared with other jurisdictions.

When Denmark joined the European Community in 1973, the Faroes decided to remain outside. The overriding reason for this was the EU Common Fisheries Policy. Membership in this arrangement is not considered to be in their best interests of the Faroes as a fisheries dependent nation.

The Faroes have direct bilateral fisheries agreements with the EU, Iceland, Norway, Greenland and the Russian Federation.

These bilateral arrangements provide the Faroese fleet with the scope and flexibility to maintain lucrative distant waters fisheries in the best seasons. These fisheries have long been an important part of total Faroese catches, many of which have their origins in the days before the extension of 200 miles fisheries limits in the 1970s.

The Faroes participate as a coastal state in multilateral negotiations on the management of shared fish stocks in the Northeast Atlantic such as Atlanto-Scandic herring, mackerel, blue whiting and redfish.

The Faroes participate together with Greenland (Denmark in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland) in the following regional fisheries management organisations: NEAFC – Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission; NAFO – North-west Atlantic Fisheries Organization; and NASCO – North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization. In addition, the Faroes have independent membership of NAMMCO, the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission.