Norway and the Faroe Islands have set their own mackerel quotas for the 2022 season as discussions between the Coastal States rumble on, IntraFish sister publication Fiskeribladet reports.

The Norwegian mackerel quota for this year is set at 278,222 metric tons, a decrease of around 7 percent compared with last year, the Ministry of Trade and Industry announced June 22.

Norway's quota amounts to a share of 35 percent of the total quota, which is 794,920 metric tons.

Why did the North East Atlantic pelagic fisheries lose MSC certification?

The European Union, Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands, United Kingdom, Russia and Greenland have so far been unable to reach an agreement on a sustainable allocation of catch quotas for mackerel, blue whiting and Atlanto-Scandian herring in the North East Atlantic.

Instead, the individual states have been setting separate quotas that, when combined, significantly exceed the sustainable limits advised by the International Council for Exploration of the Seas (ICES).

In 2021, total quotas for these three species were set at 41 percent, 35 percent and 25 percent respectively above sustainable limits.

All fisheries lost their MSC-certificates as a result: mackerel in 2019 and herring and blue whiting in 2020.

"This quota is based on assessments of the mackerel's actual zone affiliation to the waters under Norwegian jurisdiction -- that is, how much of the mackerel resides in Norwegian waters," Norway Minister of Fisheries and Marine Affairs Bjornar Skjaeran said.

The Faroe Islands also recently set its own mackerel quota for 2022.

Danish website Fiskerforum.dk reported that Faroese Minister of Fisheries Arni Skaale set the 2022 quota for the Faroese fishing fleet at 155,804 metric tons, which is 19.6 percent of the total quota of 794,920 metric tons.

According to Skaale, negotiations on the mackerel quota for 2023 are underway, and he hopes that an agreement can be reached soon.

The Coastal States were unable to agree on a distribution of the total quota among themselves when they met for negotiations in May.

Norway, the EU, the United Kingdom, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland met, while Russia was not part of the negotiations this year.

Norway's Ministry of Trade and Industry said negotiations between the Coastal States on a new distribution agreement will continue until the autumn, with an aim for a stock-sharing solution beginning in 2023.