Negotiation was on to fix next year’s quotas for many of the mainstay catches of Scotland’s fishing fleet in the North Sea. But the talks were plunged into chaos following the complete breakdown of talks between the European Union and the Norwegian government. The negotiation was stalled for five weeks and then collapse without any result.
This makes it impossible for a joint agreement to be reached before the end of the year on total allowable catches for economically important species such as cod, whiting and haddock. As the talks fail the Scottish trawlers will be banned from lucrative fishing grounds within Norwegian controlled waters and Norwegian boats will be banned from fishing grounds off the Scottish coast.
It is told that the Norwegians refused to reach agreement on the carve-up of quotas within the North Sea in retaliation for the enforced closure of mackerel grounds in Scottish waters to Norwegian pelagic trawlers two months ago. Bertie Armstrong, CEO Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, warned that the breakdown of the talks was a recipe for potential turmoil at sea.
The Norwegian authorities claimed that the ban was a clear breach of the bilateral fisheries agreement between Norway and the EU. Armstrong opined that they are in a position of uncertainty now and it is making us all extremely uneasy. He added that some sort of arrangements will have to be rolled over to allow fishing to happen in the EU sector at the turn of the year.
