One of Scotland's busiest fishing ports, Peterhead Harbour, has spoken out in support of EU sanctions against the Faroe Islands and Iceland over the overfishing of herring and mackerel.

John Wallace, chief executive of Peterhead Port Authority heralded the sanctions as ‘robustly thought through' and praised the efforts of the EU and Norwegian industries to ensuring the sustainability of stocks in recent years.

He said: "The pelagic stocks of mackerel and herring are in a sustainable condition because of the good husbandry carried out over many years by the EU and Norway as primary custodians. There has been a price to pay for these prized stocks and the condition they presently enjoy, which Faroe played only a very small part in.

"What is galling and offensive about this matter, is that I believe the Faroese traded away some of the pelagic quota they took for other species with Russia, even bringing in outside processors to handle product they themselves could not handle.  If this had been built up gradually and responsibly with EU and Norwegian agreement and participation, we would not be where we are today."

European Union sanctions came into force against the Faroe Islands last week (27 August 2013) while similar measures against Iceland are currently being discussed.

Wallace continued: "These sanctions have been a long time in coming into effect but have not been ‘knee jerk' and are robustly thought through.  At the end of the day, this has come down to a behavioural problem and the EU must now do all it can to ensure that Faroe and Iceland's actions are proportionately dealt with, before normal service and relations can be resumed."

Peterhead Port Authority is supporting a campaign by the Scottish Pelagic Processors Association to achieve a sustainable fishery and safeguard this valuable industry, currently worth £500m pa to the UK economy and supporting 2200 jobs, which is being threatened by irresponsible Faroese and Icelandic fishing practices.