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ICELAND'S fishing vessel owners, with the support of other business organisations, have made a strong appeal to the government to think again about plans to reform the country's fishing quota system.
The Government wants to end the current free permanent transfer of quotas between fishing companies which it says will bring in an extra £28-million which could be invested back into coastal fishing and rural agricultural industries. Trawler owning companies will have to pay more money up front for the privilege of using the fishing grounds. Fishing licences or leases, as they are sometimes called, will be for periods of up to 15 years, but renewals may be allowed before licences expire.
The vessel owners organisation LUI, supported by the organisations SA Olympic and the country's fishing federation (SF) have told MPs that the changes could cost the industry 180-billion kroners - or more than £900-million sterling, as well as the reduce the potential tax contribution to the country by several billion kroners.
The three organisations have said the proposals, which also have constitutional flaws, would also lead to higher taxes in other areas, and eventually undermine the sustainability of Iceland's precious fish stocks.
The vessel owners have the support of the highly respected OECD economic and development agency which warned in a report a few months ago against experimenting with the quota system.The said that Iceland has been unusually successful in sustainably exploiting its fish stocks due to the current quota system. While they acknowledge that it is unfair in many ways, the fact that most big operators have purchased their quota means that the government can do little to take it back. They suggest a rise in resource exploitation levies as the best way for the national coffers to net more fish money.
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