The mackerel spat between Iceland, the Faroes and the EU is taking its toll in the mults, forcing Sainsbury’s to backtrack on its commitment to only stock fresh fish on its counters.

Sainsbury’s ordinarily does not stock any previously frozen fish on its fresh fish counters but has made an exception for mackerel because it refuses to source more of the fish from the North East Atlantic.

The retailer said it was concerned about the over-fishing of the North East Atlantic mackerel stock by Iceland and the Faroe Islands and had therefore switched to frozen mackerel rather than further depleting stocks. Information notices on fish counters read: “To continue to offer responsibly sourced mackerel on our fish counters, we unfortunately have had to move to a previously frozen product.”

Sainsbury’s was committed to only offering customers fish from well managed fisheries, said a spokeswoman. “Due to the current international disagreement, catch levels are above the agreed management plan that ensures stock biomass is maintained at a sustainable level,” she added.

Negotiations between the EU, Iceland and the Faroe Islands over the stock have resulted in deadlock. The EU and Norway are opposed to what they consider to be overfishing by Iceland and the Faroes, who argue they have a right to catch more of the fish because of the high volumes, and because the stock is migrating into their fishing zones.

Sainsbury’s could not say when it would resume supply of fresh mackerel to counters, the spokeswoman added.

EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki is currently pushing a piece of legislation through the EU which, if implemented, would allow the EC to impose a trade ban on fish products coming into the EU from Iceland and the Faroes.

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