With NEAFC due to meet this week, tensions are already rising around Norwegian tactics concerning stocks in Areas I and II, notably redfish and Greenland halibut.
‘Norway’s aims are maximising quota share for own fleet, sometimes with very generous bilateral arrangements with the Russian Federation that serve mainly to strengthen Norway’s quota claim,’ commented a spokesman for the European North Atlantic Fisheries Association (ENAFA) which represents EU-based fishing companies with long track records of operating in distant waters, including the Barents Sea.
‘The deals that Norway has struck with the Russian Federation have left the EU with abnormally small quota shares in the Barents Sea, and this can only be seen as hostility towards the EU and its fishermen. Now we are also aware that Norway is using the concept of zonal attachment to justify the allocation of practically all Zone I and II redfish to Norway and Russia, a strategy that is also being used by the UK in its negotiations over its own waters – while Norway is applying pressure on the UK and coastal states to accept the proposals they have repeatedly tabled in past years.’
According to ENAFA, Norway and the Russian Federation have already manipulated their positions to ringfence the Greenland halibut fishery between them, and the intention appears to be to do the same with redfish in these northern waters.
ENAFA’s position is that Norway’s tactics are contrary to the requirements laid out in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), while also effectively undermining its own status of maintaining responsible stewardship of the Svalbard zone. This has been vigorously opposed by the EU, while the EU standpoint has been consistently ignored by the Norwegian delegation.
The immediate concern among ENAFA’s membership is that the manoeuvre used with the Greenland halibut fishery – in which Norway and Russia continued a commercial fishery thinly disguised as scientific activity during the long moratorium and subsequently awarded themselves 96% of the fishery based on that track record of landing – could be repeated with the redfish in the Barents Sea.
‘Norway has over and over again sought to avoid discussion at NEAFC level for the Greenland halibut (and redfish in NEAFC zone II to some extent), and by doing so not honoured its duty on co-operation with nations fishing as set out in UNCLOS,’ an ENAFA spokesman commented.
‘The EU has proposed co-operation with Norway and Russia on designing technical measures on the use of collecting bags for years. Norway has refused any co-operation on the subject, contrary to its obligations under UNCLOS. So it will be interesting to see if Norway will choose to vote against science by blocking the tabled proposal on ICES advice concerning the use of collecting bags.’
According to ENAFA, the redfish stock in zones I and II is healthy, and this is backed up by significant catch increases this year with high CPUE in particular during September and October.
‘Norway’s robust policies and tactics on quotas in the Barents Sea are undermining its current role as governor of the Fisheries Protection Zone in Svalbard waters. It has become clear that protection takes second place to ensuring Norway’s own quota shares in the region,’ ENAFA’s spokesman commented.
‘At some point this will backfire on Norway as the EU will not accept becoming an socioeconomic victim of strategies that are all about ensuring Norwegian (and Russian) benefits. The EU should be working to ensure a long-term future for the fishery in international waters and the Svalbard zone, reflecting historical rights. The tension within Europe concerning Norwegian hostility to EU fishing interests in the region is growing, and it’s growing fast.’
