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NORWAY'S Fisheries Minister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen has decided to change the quota arrangements to encourage fishing vessel owners to speed up the modernisation of the fleet.
She said the average age of the fleet was high. So under the changes she is proposing, it will now be possible for a vessel owner who has ordered a new trawler to sell the old one before the new boat has been completed.
Speaking at the recent annual meeting of the Norwegian Fishermen's Association in Trondheim the Minister said: "The change in the quota utilisation rules will ensure that the vessel owner can still exploit that quota during the period the company has no vessel."
More specifically, during a two-year set period, the owner will be able to transfer that quota to a temporary vessel without the risk of losing any catch allowance. She added: "It is thus possible to buy and sell a vessel back and forth between two shipping companies to fish two permits, in anticipation of the delivery of a new vessel."
With Norway about to undertake a major review of its fishing industry, Mrs Berg-Hansen said the Fishermen's Association would have an important voice in the forthcoming national debate and she urged its members to develop its arguments, stressing there would also be counter views from other organisations.
She said: "I think it is it is crucial that this debate is rooted in reality and that we in the political community face up to the need for profitability, even with the smallest fleet."
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