Address

The Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture of Iceland

Mr. Jón Bjarnason

Bremen21. February 2010

Mr. Chairman

Ladies and gentlemen

First, let me thank the organizers of this event, particularly Ambassador Gunnar Snorri Gunnarsson and his staff at the embassy for the effort necessary for preparing such a meeting and bringing us together here today.

I am glad to see how many of you are here, representing companies that are involved in buying, marketing and trading Icelandic fish and fish products.

We value highly the good relations that have evolved over time between our fishing industry and exporters in Iceland and you, who, one way or another, are involved in marketing our products in this country, one of the important market area for Icelandic fish products. Our exchange of information and views today gives us a good opportunity to foster and strengthen this important relationship.

We realize that your work is very demanding; you have to be able to adapt and meet the diverse and constantly changing needs and wishes of the consumers, one aspect of which is the increasing awareness of environmental considerations.

As you all know fishing has been an important activitiy in Iceland ever since the country was settled, and during the past century it was chiefly the development of fisheries that provided the bases for the country´s progress and economic growth. Even though the Icelandic economy has become more and more diverse it remains very dependent on the fisheries, and we are aware of the importance of our natural resources and the sustainable use of our fish stocks that will be the backbone of our economy for years to come.

It follows that this overriding dependence on the marine resources has made the Icelandic nation and the authorities very much aware of the importance of reasonable and sustainable fisheries for which we have been an active advocate in international fora.

Fishing and fish processing contributes about 7% of the GDP and employs about 7% of the working population. The fisheries sector in Iceland provides approximately 37% of the earnings of exported goods. It shows how valuable the export of fish and fish products are for Icelanders and the importance of foreign markets, like the German redfish market is to us.

Recent years have seen Icelanders – both authorities and industry representatives – having to spend increasing time and effort explaining their fisheries policy, constantly pointing out and emphasizing how it is based on the ideology of sustainable utilisation. One of the reason for this time and effort are incorrect statements by organisations that damage our reputation and cause problems at our markets.

In light of above and recent events it is important to know that there are two species of redfish caught in Icelandic waters, Sebastes marinus or golden redfish and Sebastes mentella, the beaked readfish. The catch of these two species is recorded seperately. The advice for both species, which the Ministry uses as a basis for deciding the total allowable catch, comes from the Marine Research Institute in Iceland as well as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. The landings of these species have for decades been close to the advice given by the Marine Research Institute. The majority of redfish products from Iceland on the German market are from the golden redfish stock, which according to Marine Research Institute survey series has been increasing in size since mid-1990s, due to increased recruitment to the fishable part of the stock.

We are constantly working on improvement of our fisheries management and recently I put forward a parliamentary bill for the Icelandic Parliament which will improve the management of the redfish fisheries, The bill recommends a seperate quotas on the golden redfish and beaked redfish, which is anticipated to take effect this year.

Two years ago we were faced with a drastic cutdown in the total allowable catch for cod, our single most important fish stock. Under the circumstances that Iceland is facing today we stand up against heavy pressure to increase the total allowable catch of the cod. However, our present policy and our approach is to continue to build up the spawning stock to secure the future and seek the goal of optimal stock size for sustainable and profitable fisheries.

There is every reason to emphasize that the management and utilisation of the marine resources are never an easy task and many factors that must be included in the equation. In utilizing the marine resources in a sensible manner, we must remember that we are not tackling situations were all factors of the equation are known – far from it! This is a complex interaction of factors that in turn are affected by various things. We are not only talkning aout the utilisation by mankind as being the only contributing factor; we must also undrestand the complex interaction in the ocean. This is why our answer is first and foremost entailed in increasing research and thereby casting a clearer light on the ecosystem here being addressed.