Couldn't agree on a total quota for mackerel
The negotiations in London are over. One of the goals was to set a total quota for mackerel for 2024, but it was not successful.
In September, Norwegian negotiators were in London to negotiate, among other things, zone access to mackerel with the coastal states of Great Britain, the EU, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
The negotiations did not lead, and 17.-18.
In October, they therefore met again in London to agree on total quotas for mackerel, blue whiting and nvg herring.
An agreement was reached on total quotas for blue whiting and nvg herring, but not for mackerel.
Zone access solutions
Two questions have been central to the negotiations on mackerel: Percentage distribution of the stock and access to fishing in other nations' zones.
- The main focus has so far been on ownership shares, but we probably also have to find solutions for zone access in order to arrive at a comprehensive solution, writes Norway's head of negotiations from the Ministry of Fisheries, Ann Kristin Westberg, in an e-mail to Fiskeribladet.
Negotiates great values
According to the government, the total catch value of the fisheries agreements Norway has with other countries was NOK 61 billion in 2022. Of this, Norway's share was NOK 19.5 billion.
In 2022, the mackerel accounted for a catch value of NOK 3.8 billion for Norway. Norwegian herring amounted to NOK 3 billion, while kolmula amounted to NOK 520 million.
Down five percent
According to the government, the total catch value of the fisheries agreements Norway has with other countries was NOK 61 billion in 2022. Of this, Norway's share was NOK 19.5 billion.
In 2022, the mackerel accounted for a catch value of NOK 3.8 billion for Norway. Norwegian herring amounted to NOK 3 billion, while blue whiting amounted to NOK 520 million.
Continues in the new year
Although the parties can probably be said to have come somewhat closer to each other, there is still a long way to go before a solution is reached, the negotiator points out.
According to Westberg, the UK and Norway are probably the two largest "mackerel nations" among the coastal states.
- The negotiations on the mackerel will continue at the beginning of 2024. From the Norwegian side, it is important that the final distribution solution does not deviate too much from the biological realities - that is, how much mackerel is actually found in the different economic zones, writes Westberg.
Challenging without agreements
The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research writes on its website that a challenge for both mackerel, Norwegian herring and mullet is the lack of international agreements.
- This means that the fishing has been far above the advice in recent years, and we now see that this is particularly affecting Norwegian herring, where the spawning population falls below the precautionary limit, says Bjarte Bogstad, researcher and ICES representative at the Institute of Marine Research in a press release .
- Overfishing of nvg herring can have dramatic consequences
ICES recommends a quota of up to 390,010 tonnes for Norwegian herring. This is a decrease of 24 per cent compared to the advice for 2023.
The quota advice for coal mules is 13 per cent higher than in 2023, with 1,529,754 tonnes.
Fishing in each other's zones
Since it did not prove possible to reach a comprehensive agreement, Norway and Great Britain agreed last year on a bilateral agreement to fish in each other's zones for 2023. The total quota this year is 782,066 tonnes of mackerel.
The agreement signed for 2023 involved a decrease from the quota in 2022, which was 794,920 tonnes. It was the same as the marine researchers' quota for 2023, a decrease of 1.6 per cent from the previous year's quota.
The Norwegian negotiating delegation for mackerel is led by department director Westberg and otherwise consists of representatives from the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries, the Directorate of Fisheries, the Institute of Marine Research, the Coast Guard as well as the business organizations Fiskarlaget, Fishing Boat, Pelagisk Forening, Seafood Norway, the Seamen's Association and the Herring Sales Team.