The EU and Norway are not in line with the 2020 fisheries agreement

EU FLAGEU flag.Photo: Pixabay

The fisheries agreement between Norway and the EU should have been finalized on December 6th, but has not yet been agreed. The Minister of Fisheries is nevertheless positive.

The parties met in Bergen this week, but failed to make a new agreement for 2020. It remains to be agreed on management measures for cod in the North Sea that can take care of both the stock, juvenile fish and fishermen next year.

“We have laid a good foundation and agree in most areas of the agreement, but we have different approaches to the management of cod in the North Sea,” said Fisheries and Seafood Minister Harald T. Nesvik (FrP/Progress Party), in a press release.

Norway wants far better protection of juvenile cod, which the Norwegian authorities believe is crucial to building up the stock.

“We think it is appropriate to spend some more time on rebuilding, to ensure fishing with limited waste and thus unregistered fishing. For Norway, the harvesting of cod is important, so we cannot just adopt a low quota and believe that it alone will rebuild the stock,” says Nesvik.

A fisheries agreement with the EU has a value of around NOK 8 billion, and Nesvik is still optimistic even though the negotiations were not concluded as planned before the weekend.

“We have a long tradition of finding good solutions together with the EU, and I believe that this tradition will continue,” says Nesvik.

Norwegian fisheries policy and management are not part of the EEA agreement, and Norway and the EU have therefore conducted annual fisheries negotiations for over 40 years. Britain’s exit from the EU will mean that Norway will then have to negotiate with both the UK and the EU on fish stocks in the North Sea.

If the UK leaves the EU on January 31st with an agreement, the negotiated fisheries agreement will now also apply to the UK for the whole of 2020.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

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