Last week, the Norwegian fishermen's and industry organizations agreed a minimum price for mackerel weighing over 600 grams of NOK 6.50 (€0.77/$0.99).

This compares with NOK 12 (€1.43/$1.83) earlier this year, a decrease in price of almost 50 percent.

Around 90 percent of Norwegian mackerel catches end up on Japanese dinner plates, but there are fears about how the market will develop now Japan has reinitiated mackerel fishing after stocks reappeared after a 20-year absence from the coast.

For Norwegian exporters this is causing uncertainty over the quantities they will ship to Japan and resultant prices.

Speculation