Fisheries getting critical towards Big Oil
Norwegian fishing boat owners are threatening to apply civil disobedience against petroleum installations in the Barents Sea. They argue that increased oil and gas related activities in the area scare the fish away from their fishing fields.
While relations between the Norwegian fishery industry and the oil industry so far have been based on cooperation mutual understanding, the harmony might not start to crack. According to newspaper Nordlys, the Norwegian Association of Fishing Boat Owners threatens to initiate civil disobedience action around oil installations in the Barents Sea.
The main reason for the fish industry’s dissatisfaction is oil company ENI’s plans for a floating production installations over the “Goliat” field in the area.
Also Reidar Nilsen from the Fishery Association has expressed major opposition to the plans for oil platforms and oil loading from buoys at the fishing fields outside the coast of Norway’s northernmost county of Finnmark.
Journalist Skjalg Fjellheim writes in Nordlys that the friendly relationship between the Norwegian fishermen and the oilmen might now have come to an end. He believes the disagreements over the “Goliat” field is only the start of an escalating conflict between the two powerful industries.
