Oslo Fjord Sees Fishing Ban

Cod.Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB scanpix

Depleted stocks of fish, specifically cod, within the Oslo Fjord is prompting theNorwegian Fisheries Directorate (NFD) to entirely ban cod fishing from the fjord’s waters.

 

Fisheries Director Liv Holmefjord gave comment of the pending ban on cod fishing within the fjord, saying; “It’s bad for all of the fish of Oslo Fjord. Early measures to help the fish stock have not proved effective. Therefore, these strict, new tactics are necessary if we’re going to make a difference.”

“COD’S ABOUT GONE”
The fjord’s fishing ban will apply to both netting the seabed and fishing for cod with rods or nets for both sport & professional fishers. Fishing trawlers must also employ sorting nets that allow for sorting & release of cod by size.

Øystein Hovde of the Færder and Tønsberg municipalities commented of the proposal, saying “I think that a radical proposal is needed to save what little local fishing stock is left. Cod are almost completely gone from Oslo Fjord.”

The cod fishing ban would extend from Telemark to the Swedish border.

NATURAL PREDATORS
Not all see gloom & doom for Oslo Fjord’s cod population. Local shrimper Geir Uno Dreng believes that Oslo Fjord’s cod stock has been slowly increasing over the past few years.

Dreng supports the proposed ban on cod fishing, but says such a ban won’t help increase cod stocks without hunting approval for predators (such as seals) that consume large quantities of fish.

Deadline for the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate proposal consultation expires in 90 days; with the fishing ban becoming effective January, 2019.

The Oslo Fjord is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from Færder & Torbjørnskjær lighthouses and down south to Langesund & up north to Oslo.

Oslo Fjord is not a fjord in a geological sense: in the Norwegian language the term fjord refers to a wide range of waterways.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today