Ávarp Jóns Bjarnasonar,

sjávarútvegs- og landbúnaðarráðherra

á alþjóðlegri ráðstefnu um strandveiðar

í Biarritz 25. nóvember 2009

Mr. Mayor of Biarritz,

Mr. and Mrs. representative of Pyrenées Atlantique and Region Aquitaine,

Dear conference guests.

First of all I would like to thank Orri Vigfússon from NASF for asking me to come here and give a speech to applaud small-scale costal fisheries and believe me, for me it was no problem at all. I only asked Orri: When do you want me to do this!

I have to let  it come especially forward here that I am very privilaged to know Orri and I am also following the good work of NASF in which he has his big part.

I am very proud to stand here as a minister for fisheries and a member of parliment for the left –green party and be able to give you an overview of the Icelandic fisheries policies and those aspects which mainly concern costal fishing. To be able to do so I first need to describe the system in general terms. I hope you do not mind even though it is complicated.

In recent years the total Icelandic sustainable fish catches have been around 1.7-2.1 million tonnes annually and counting for 1.8-2.5% of the world total catches. The annual catches within the Icelandic Exclusive Economic Zone have been approximately 1.450.000 tons and around 500.000 tons beyond the Icelandic Exclusive Economic Zone. The total annual market value of exported Icelandic marine products is around 2 billion US dollars. 

To give you a better sense of where we stand as a fishing nation in terms of volume compared to other fishing nations then it should be noted that in 2005 Iceland ranked 14th of the world’s total catches with 1.7 million tonnes or 1.8%. The leading 15 nations account for 70% of the world’s total catches, Norway and Iceland being the only European countries on this list.

Fishing has been an important activity in Iceland ever since the country was settled and has provided the basis for the country’s progress and economic growth during the past century. Considering recent events in Iceland, the melt down of the banking sector, sustainable fisheries have proven to be the fundamental pillar of Iceland’s economy and social structure and will continue to do so for the years to come. It will provide over 40% of all exports value in 2009 and it is the single most important exporting industry in Iceland.

The Icelandic Fishing Fleet consists of approximately:

?66 Freezers and wetfish trawlers

?46 Trawling vessels,

?375 Other fishing vessels of which 250 are active
(Long liners, Danish seine, Gill-netters)

?800 Small boats, of which are 600 active
(Hook and line boats)

?Total fishing fleet approx. 1,300

(Vessels and boats)

In 2008 the small boats catch made for about 10-15% of the total value of our fishing catch and one boat “Ragnar SF” from Hornafjörður with only two men onboard managed to bring 1.329 tonnes to land. I think this is quite an achievement!

Soon after gaining control over the 200 miles in 1976, serious concerns were raised that the most valuable fish stocks were being exploited. Various forms of fisheries restrictions have been applied and there has been an intensive political debate on different systems of management ever since.

In the early eighties, effort limitations which had been in force since 1973, proved to be unsuccessful resulting in the decline of the cod stock. As a result, the Parliament adopted a management system of individual transferable quotas (ITQs) based on each vessel's catch performance. However, there was an effort option in the system that made it difficult to limit total fish catches and to evaluate the results from the ITQ system.

The present comprehensive Fisheries Management system is still based on ITQs. The objectives are, according to the Fisheries Management Act, to promote the conservation and efficient utilisation of the marine resources and thus, to ensure stable employment and economic viability of fishing communities. In other words, the aim is to ensure the sustainability of the fisheries while emphasising the economic benefits of the fisheries sector.

According to the law the total allowable catch (TAC) is set by the Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture and his decision should be based on scientic advice from the Marine Research Institute (MRI). Fishing vessels are allocated a fixed quota share of the species subject to the TAC. All economically important species, or some 95% of the total catch value, are now included in the ITQ system.

Noone can pursue commercial fishing in Icelandic waters without having a general fishing permit. General fishing permits are of two types, i.e. a general fishing permit with a catch quota and a general fishing permit with a hook-and-line catch quota.

The owners of fishing vessels and operators must also fulfil these requirements to pursue fishing in Icelandic waters, as provided for in the Act on Investment by Foreign Parties in Industrial Operations and the Act on Fishing and Processing by Foreign Vessels in Iceland's Exclusive Fishing Zone.

Vessels holding fishing permits with hook-and-line catch quotas may fish those species for which they hold quotas plus species which are not subject to limits on total allowable catch.

Hook-and-line catch quotas may only be used for logline and hand-line fishing. The Minister may, however, grant hook-and-line boats permission to fish for benthic species using such fishing gear as is required, such as plows and traps, and to use nets for lumpfish fishing.

The three main objectives of the Icelandic fisheries management system are to increase efficiency in the industry, conservation of the marine stocks and to ensure stable employment and settlement throughout the country. Many consolidations and rationalisations have of course taken place.  But this has also caused concerns that the industry might become too concentrated.  For this reason a single operator or related operators are limited to a maximum of 12% off the quota shares.

The Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture has the mandate to allocate up to 12 thousand tonnes of cod equivalent quotas to use for special purposes.  These 12 thousand tonnes have usually been less than 3% of the total quota allocations.  It is mainly intended to serve as a shock absorber and as a regional policy instrument. There is also a special preferential treatment of long-line fishery where the line has been prepared ashore and the vessels land their catches daily.  This preference has been up to 16%. These extra allocations are favouring the smallest vessels and the smallest fishing villages.

Icelandic legislation forbids discards and fishermen are required to land all their catch. Vessels are obliged to have catch quota for their catches in all species, which are subjected to the ITQ system, there are no by catch rules.

If vessels don’t have sufficient catch quota for all their catches it is required that sufficient catch quota is transferred to them from other vessels.

According to the law,  vessels are not allowed to commence a fishing trip unless they have sufficient catch quota for their probable catches.

To sum up the most important measures incorporated into the Icelandic management system to fight discards.

The measures are:

·         Undersized fish is only partially withdrawn from catch quotas

·         Permission to land up to 5% excessive to quotas - monetary value of catch goes into a special development fund, run by the minister

·         Species conversion (demersal species only)

·         5% can be caught in excess of a vessel’s catch quota - deducted from next year’s quota

·         33% of each vessel’s catch quota can be transferred to the following fishing year

·         Closures of areas in case of undersized fish – by catches in pelagic fisheries

·         Mesh sizes and fishing grids (undersized fish, unwanted by catches)

·         A special procedure to suspend fishing permits in case of excessive catches

The collection of data is unique and it has been recognised world wide. Data is sent electronically directly into the Directorate’s of Fisheries database and this process enables the Directorate to act quickly if vessels have exceeded their quotas.

The statistical Bureau of Iceland has direct access to weight and processing data for the production of statistics on the economy. All the information is immediately made available with open access on the internet including information on individual vessels as well as summarized data for all Icelandic vessels. This benefits both the administration in monitoring the fisheries as well as the industry as it makes it easier for vessel owners and fishermen to monitor their catches and quota status.

As a Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, I have placed the strongest emphasis on applying sustainable methods in managing our marine resources. By sustainable I mean all the three dimensions; economical, ecological and social. To me it is a vital issue to strengthen the position of the smaller and more remote fishing communities. To pursue these priorities, I prepared a bill of law last spring introducing a new possibility for smaller boats, which has been referred to as coastal fisheries.

Amendments to the Fisheries Management Act, which took effect in the summer of 2009, permitted jigging (hand line fishing) outside the ITQ system by small boats from June to August 2009. This was a temporary provision, which applied only to this specific year. The system was constructed by excluding a total of 3,955 tonnes of ungutted cod from the catch quota system and allocating this in a specific manner to small boats in four areas of the country. The total catch for each boat on each trip was limited to 800 kg of ungutted catch of species subject to quotas. Boats could set out to fish once a day from Sunday to Thursday on fishing trips lasting a maximum of 14 hours. Boats were limited to a maximum of four jigging lines and had to land their catch daily. A total of 595 permits were issued for this fishing. A total of 3,450 tonnes of cod were caught, or 87.2% of the cod TAC allocated for this purpose. Catch other than cod amounted to 654 tonnes, mostly pollock and redfish. It is my opinion that this arrangement was very successful both for the fishermen and the communities. Suddenly there was laughter and joy at the quays. Older men participating in this programme became young and strong again. This confirmed what I already knew; general participation of the society is vital for any sustainable fishing regime. It is my intention to continue with the programme and allocate new quotas for the next fishing year.

I have also just now put forward a new bill to the Althingi, our Parliament. That bill includes several measures to improve our fisheries management schemes and perhaps make it more ethical.  To mention a few examples, it is proposed that the quota allowed to be transferred between years will be reduced from 33% to 10% this year but 15% in the coming years. Those who hold quota must now fish themselves 50% of the their own quota each year instead of 50% every second year which is now applicable. The main purpose of these measures is to make it clear that all TAC are to be caught now but not used for other purposes. If the bill is adapted it will be possible for the minister of fisheries to put forward a rule that will oblige a fishing vessel to land a certain part of their catch of pelagic fish for human consumption instead of only fish meal or oil. Allowing this measure is first of all symbolic to begin with, but the fishermen should know there is a strong ethical component in fisheries. It’s not only about money.

At last I would like to mention that if the bill is granted the minister will be allowed to tender out up to 2.000 tonnes of new monk fish quota instead of giving it automatically to the quota holders. This is put forward because the monk fish has now migrated from the south coast all over to the north but the original quota was in 2001 mostly distributed to those who were fishing vessel owners in the south. It is disputed but I strongly belief that we should have justice in mind when dealing with fishing rights.

Last summer the Icelandic Parliament, Althingi, decided, to apply for EU membership. The process has already begun, although nobody knows how much time is needed for the negotiations. The political background is somewhat peculiar. The two parties in government have opposing opinions. While one is for membership, the other my party the Left-greens is rather strongly against it but has agreed to let a national referendum have the final say. Recent opinion polls in Iceland show a huge majority against membership. Keeping in mind that all the agricultural sector, the farmers and the food industry are against membership, and the same goes for the whole of the fishing industry as my own party the left-greens, it should not surprise anyone that I am not in favor of membership myself. Iceland is a small island situated in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with just over 300 thousand inhabitants. The foundation of our livelyhood lies in our natural resources; we must maintain sovereignty over our most valued assets, our economy, our culture and our future generations are depending on it. We can enjoy wide-ranging international cooperation without being tied up in the EU framework. Given these circumstances, it is my firm belief that the future of our country is will be much better off outside European Union than inside.

Now as it is coming to the end of my speech I like to wish you all good and fruitful working days here in Biarritz.

Thank you.