The AGM of Icelandic Independent Fish Producers’ Association SFÚ (Samtök Fiskframleiðenda og Útflytjenda) ended with a resolution demanding that all exported fresh fish should pass through the auction system before leaving the country.
SFÚ’s position is that this would support a genuinely competitive working environment reflecting the true price of fish, while also returning the correct shares to seamen, as well as harbour dues, taxes to the state and the correct price paid by the consumer. It has urged the government to close down the committee that decides fish prices in internal trading to be shut down and for all landings to be auctioned.
The association has called on the government to ensure a proper legal separation of catching and processing sectors, as it claims fishing companies are able to operate under the protection of a form of public monopoly, while the processing sector operates under free competition.
‘The true financial returns from the resource cannot be seen as long as the profits of the catching sector are shifted onto the processing sector,’ SFÚ claims, pointing out the importance of more raw material reaching auctions and of supporting fishing companies that land their catches to Icelandic auctions.
