Iceland’s Minister of Fisheries Bjarkey Olsen Gunnarsdóttir has signed off changes to regulations to authorise an additional 2000 tonnes of cod to be allocated to the coastal fishery sector. Not everyone is happy with the decision.
This applies to the current coastal fishery time period and increases the sector’s cod allocation from 10,000 tonnes to 12,000 tonnes. This is the largest amount ever to be allocated to the coastal sector and is sourced with an exchange for mackerel quotas.
‘This decision has been taken to adjust the imbalance in the coastal sector, in which some communities have come out of this arrangement badly,’ Bjarkey Olsen Gunnarsdóttir said.
The Minister’s decision has been strongly criticised by fishing vessel operators’ federation SFS, which represents quota holders, describing the move as one that increases ‘imprudent and unprofitable coastal fishing.’
SFS makes a startling accusation of the Minister ‘giving in to the greed of the coastal fishermen who are unable to restrain themselves within the Olympic fishing that the coastal system certainly is.’
On the other hand, Samtök Fiskframleiðenda og Útflýjenda (SFÚ), representing processors and exporters not linked to fishing operators and therefore outside the quota system, has praised the Minister’s decision for her foresight.
‘In my opinion it is not only sensible but necessary to support the sector of fisheries that lies outside the quota system,’ commented SFÚ chairman Arnar Atlason.
According to Örn Pálsson, chairman of the National Association of Small Boat Owners, the SFS claims of the coastal sector’s greed ‘best describe the phiposophy that thrives within the small but powerful clique inside SFS.’
