Icelandic Minister of Fisheries Svandís Svavarsdóttir has recommended that the Directorate of Fisheries strengthen its monitoring of the consolidation of fishing rights, with particular focus on examining the position of linked entities with a dominant market position.
The Directorate is expected to report back to the Minister with its findings. The Minister’s request is based on the findings of a working group on improved monitoring of marine resources and a report by the Icelandic National Audit Office in December 2018 which examined the allowable extent of overall ownership held by linked entities.
The Minister has proposed a Parliamentary Bill on changes to fisheries legislation that the government has agreed to put before Parliament. This proposed strengthening the powers of the Directorate of Fisheries with the aim of achieving more effective monitoring and therefore better adherence to laws and regulations relating to fisheries management.
‘The authorities must have an overview of the scope of the holdings of linked entities and systematic monitoring by the Directorate of Fisheries is important to this end. This needs to be bolstered and changes to the definitions in the law relating to fisheries of linked entities are also needed, so that it becomes when two entities can be considered to be linked,’ Svandís Svavarsdóttir said.
‘With these recommendations and this Parliamentary Bill we are taking the first steps towards making much-needed improvements in monitoring the fisheries management system. Effective public monitoring forms the basis of there being trust in how these resources in common national ownership are exploited.’
