Iceland's aquaculture reform bill delayed again

Industry minister Hanna Katrín Friðriksson had hoped the country’s parliament would have passed it into law this Spring, but it failed to get through before the Althing went into its summer break last month.

 

She said recently: “We have a common goal to build up the industry. In a nutshell, Iceland is a food producing country.”

 

The bill will now have to be reintroduced when parliament resumes in September and, given the continued deep divisions among MPs it could even be delayed until after Christmas.

 

The proposals in the bill have come under criticism from both opposing sides – the industry itself, environmental groups and sports fishing organisations who, if they can’t get open pen farming banned, want stricter controls on lice and fish escapes.

 

Salmon and other aquaculture companies are particularly concerned about taxation proposals and some of the environmental proposals while the fishing groups want to sea open farming banned altogether.

 

SFS, which represents both fishing and aquaculture businesses support the updating of regulations, but it is opposed to the way they have been drawn up.

 

And SFS maintains that Iceland’s aquaculture sector will become the highest taxed in the world, if the proposals go through.

 

Aquaculture has brought new prosperity including scores of jobs to many once depressed parts of the country, but the majority of Icelanders, according to recent polls, are opposed to open-net farming.