Fisheries: Pirate trawlers allowed to continue – Fishupdate.com

NORWEGIAN authorities have revealed extensive pirate fishing by Russian trawlers in the Barents Sea, but don’t dare to bar them from fishing in Norwegian waters, according to NRK.

Norwegian authorities have solid documentation showing that 101 Russian trawlers are overfishing the quotas on cod in the Barents Sea.

Even so, Norway does not want to withdraw their license to fish in the Norwegian zone, and neither to make public which vessels are involved in the illegal fishing, says a NRK report in the Norway Post.

Head of the control section of the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate, Einar Ellingsen, says they are waiting for the Russians authorities themselves to punish the vessels.

“Many of the cases we have reported to the Russians, are processing in their own system. Cases under investigation will not be made public by us, since this could harm the investigations in Russia,” Ellingsen says.

According to NRK, experience has shown that the Russian investigations take a long time, if they are followed up at all, and in the meantime the pirate trawlers continue fishing in both the Norwegian and Russian zone in thee Barents Sea.

Greenpeace leader Truls Gulowsen, on the other hand, is not in agreement with this view. In his opinion, the pirate fishermen ought to be barred from the Norwegian zone.

“We must withdraw the license from those who deserve it,” Gullowsen says.

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