Norway and the EU have put earlier disagreements behind them on several key fisheries issues. This past week a consensus was reached on fishing for herring and blue whiting, transit and an increase in the duty-free quota for Norwegian prawn exports to the EU.

“I am very pleased that after several years at a standstill we have now succeeded in achieving concrete results,” said Helga Pedersen, the Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. She praised all the parties that have shown a sincere willingness to negotiate and ability to arrive at a solution.

“It is especially important that after six years of negotiations, the coastal states the EU, the Faeroe Islands, Iceland and Norway have reached agreement on the management and allocation of the vital blue whiting stocks. This will give us proper management and the basis for a quota that will allow individual vessels to plan their operation and increase the value of their catches,” Pedersen said.

“Let me also give credit to the initiatives industry organisations in several countries have taken this past year, which made a positive contribution to the solution on blue whiting.”

Herring, transit, prawns and compliance monitoring

Earlier this week, Norway and the EU reached agreement on a bilateral deal on fishing for Norwegian spring-spawning herring, which will limit the total catch on this important stock.

“The next step will to be to reach agreements on herring with the Faeroe Islands and Iceland, in order to establish a comprehensive management regime on the herring stock.

“With the agreement on herring in place, the ban on deliveries of herring from EU vessels in Norway is lifted and normal landing pattern for herring catches around the North Sea restored. I am also happy that the question of transit through Norway of fish caught by EU vessels has been resolved and that we have thereby succeeded in obtaining a long sought-after increase in the duty-free quota for exports of Norwegian prawns to the EU,” Pedersen said.

In the annual bilateral quota agreement between Norway and the EU that was concluded at the beginning of December, there was agreement on crucial elements for beefing up compliance monitoring in the fisheries.

“Since we now have all this in place, I am going to get in touch with Joe Borg, the new EU fisheries commissioner, and my colleagues in key EU member states, in order to agree on the necessary strengthening of port State control and put a stop to illegal and unregulated fishing,” Pedersen said.

• Photo I - the chief negotiators sign the blue whiting agreement on 16 December
  Photo: Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs
• Photo II - the chief negotiators sign the blue whiting agreement on 16 December
  Photo: Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs

Agreed records (pdf-format):

• AGREED RECORD OF CONCLUSIONS OF FISHERIES CONSULTATIONS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE BLUE WHITING STOCK IN THE NORTH-EAST ATLANTIC
• Agreed Record of conclusions of fisheries consultations between Norway and the European Community on the management of the fisheries on the stock of blue whiting in the North-East Atlantic
• Agreed Record of conclusions of fisheries consultations between Norway and the European Community on the management of the fisheries on the stock of Norwegian Spring-spawning (Atlanto-Scandian) herring in the North-East Atlantic