More regional power over Norwegian fishery resources
A new report from the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs proposes to give locals more power over marine resources in the North. The report signals another major regionalization process of resources in northern Norway.
If approved and adopted as law, the new fishery regulations will be another major regionalization of resources in the Norwegian North. Only a couple of years ago, the Norwegian government transferred the management of its huge northernmost county of Finnmark to a regional management body, the Finnmark Property.
The report officially handed over to Minister Helga Pedersen by chief author Carsten Smith yesterday states that the people living along the northern fjords should have the principle right to engage in fishing. The principle must be seen in the light of the people’s historic rights and as a consequence of international law on indigenous peoples’ rights, the report reads.
The report, which now is to undergo a lengthy hearing process, will not be received positively by the main Norwegian fishery companies. Thus, leader of the Norwegian Fishery Association, Reidar Nilsen, has already reacted strongly on the main points in the report.
-It is incredible that so many well educated people can come up with this rubbish, he says, NRK reports. He fears that the regionalization of the fishery resources will harm the companies operating in the region.
At the same time, Norwegian authorities now also confirms that the king crab industry in the Norwegian part of the Barents Sea will only be allowed to land their catch to reception centres in the region, thus putting a stop to possible shipping of the catch to far-away processing plants.
Read the key points in the report at Regjeringen.no (in Norwegian)
