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Norwegian Fisheries Minister Bjørnar Skjæran said that he is satisfied with the bilateral quota agreements reached with the EU for 2023
Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bjørnar Skjæran said that he is satisfied with the bilateral quota agreements reached with the EU on the North Sea, Skagerrak, and in addition to the neighbourhood agreement with the EU on Sweden.
The bilateral fisheries agreement with the EU was signed on Friday afternoon, 17 March. The agreement means that Norway and the EU have finally agreed on a quota exchange and access to fishing in each other’s zones.
“I am satisfied that we have finally reached an agreement. It is of course important for us to get these agreements in place, and ideally, I would have liked to have seen that we managed to reach the goal many weeks ago. At the same time, it has been important from the Norwegian side to ensure a balanced agreement, which safeguards Norwegian core interests in the long term. We have managed this with this agreement, and I am satisfied with the result for this year’s fishing,” says Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bjørnar Skjæran.
“The negotiations with the EU have been ongoing since October last year, and countless hours have been spent in negotiation meetings in Oslo, Brussels and in video calls both at political and official level. Among the questions on which we stood far apart for a long time was Norwegian vessels’ access to fishing for blue whiting in EU waters outside Ireland, and EU vessels’ access to fish in the Norwegian economic zone in the North Sea. There have been periods of hard work, but I am happy that the negotiations finally led to a good result,” says Skjæran.
“With the quota swap in place, Norwegian fishermen can start fishing on the quotas we have swapped for us such as prawns, Greenland halibut and redfish off Greenland, and blue whiting in the EU zone. In the exchange agreement, the EU has received a cod quota in the Barents Sea of 9,150 tonnes,” says the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.
Norway and the EU have also signed this year’s agreements on the management of stocks in the Skagerrak and the protocol for the so-called neighbourhood agreement with Sweden, which gives some Swedish vessels access to fishing quotas such as cod, saithe, haddock, NVG herring and industrial fish in Norwegian economic zone south of 62 o N.
In the agreement on fishing in the Skagerrak for 2023 between Norway and the EU, it is stated that from 01 January 2024 Norway will introduce a ban on cross-border fishing. This means that the border with NØS in Skagerrak can no longer be crossed without raising equipment. Furthermore, strengthened reporting requirements will be introduced.
Source: Press Release
