The European Union, the United Kingdom and Norway have reached an agreement, the first tripartite agreement since Brexit, on fishing quotas in the North Sea, the Norwegian government has announced.
“
I am happy that the deal with the EU and the UK has finally come full circle.
This is the first quota agreement between the three parties in the North Sea and a condition for the sustainable management
”of stocks, Norwegian Fisheries Minister Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen said in a statement.
Read also: Fishing quotas: the European Union "confident" on an agreement by the end of March
Fishing has been the subject of a bilateral cooperation agreement between the European Union and Norway since 1980, but the Brexit finalized last year has complicated the situation.
The subject of tough negotiations since the start of the year, the compromise provides for an overall catch quota set at 13,246 tonnes of cod, 356,357 tonnes of herring and 59,512 tonnes of saithe, and fixes the share of each of the Three parties.
At the same time, Norway has also found a bilateral quota exchange agreement with the EU, which frees fishermen from both sides of access to their respective waters.
Since they had not agreed until then on the total level of catches authorized in the North Sea, European and Norwegian fishermen could no longer access their mutual fishing zones since January 1.
Read also: Shipwreck in Calvados: a drama that reminds us that fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs
The organization representing Norwegian professional fishermen, Fiskebåt, said it was "
satisfied
" with the conclusion of these agreements but called for measures for the offshore fleet penalized by the reduction in available quotas.
A similar bilateral agreement remains to be concluded between Norway and the United Kingdom, noted Ingebrigtsen.
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