EU ready for battle vs Iceland and Faroes in 'mackerel war'.

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BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Union is ready to go to battle against Iceland and the Faroe Islands for overfishing mackerel, its fisheries chief Maria Damanaki said Monday.

Slamming decisions by both to unilaterally increase their 2010 mackerel fishing quotas, Damanaki said she had received "a clear mandate" to negotiate with Iceland and the Faroe Islands from the EU's 27 agriculture ministers, who are meeting in Brussels.

"We will not seek agreement at any price," she said. In the case of excessive demands "we are ready to act, in particular regarding our annual agreements with these countries" on other fish species.

Negotiations for a longterm deal are due to resume in October.

Saying climate warming has affected the migration of fish, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish province, raised their mackerel quota to 130,000 tonnes and 85,000 tonnes, respectively.

Iceland's normal quota is 2,000 tonnes. The Faroes' self-set quota is three times higher than that in force over the past decade.

The moves angered Scottish and Norwegian fishermen and the international environmental group WWF says the hike is way above levels deemed safe for the survival of the fish.

Damanaki said the European Commission was not linking the dispute to talks on Iceland's bid to join the 27-nation bloc.

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