Norway is understood to have suspended talks with the European Union over white-fish quotas for the North Sea following the latest failed mackerel discussions between Norway, the EU, Iceland and Faroe.
UK ministers have been pushing for a “moderate” increase in cod quota at the EU-Norway talks, but these negotiations are being hampered by the “mackerel war” over Scotland’s most important pelagic species.
The delays are causing disruption in the industry as many boats cannot operate in their traditional fishing grounds.
Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association chief executive Ian Gatt said yesterday that four rounds of north-east Atlantic mackerel talks already this year had “closed the gap” between participants.
He added: “Norway suspended the EU-Norway talks . . . as they wished to continue internal deliberations before meeting again. To say anything else would just be speculation.”
The latest mackerel talks were adjourned on February 7, with no sign of any deal to end a situation which has dragged on for years.
Iceland and Faroe have repeatedly refused to sign up to internationally agreed quota limits for the fish.
They claim global warming has shifted more of the shared stock into their waters.
Both countries have angered fishers in Scotland and elsewhere in recent years by massively and unilaterally increasing their mackerel quotas.
Speaking at the end of last week’s quota talks in Bergen, Norway, Norwegian Fisheries Minister Elisabeth Aspaker said: “There have been positive developments but we are all getting impatient.”
She called on all parties to “show enough flexibility for us to reach an agreement which can lay the foundation for good management of this valuable stock”.