Minister of Fisheries Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen

Speech at the Ministerial Conference in Bergen, 13 march 1997.

Mr. Chairman, honourable colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure to see that so many of my colleagues have come together in Bergen today, to discuss the challenges with which we are collectively faced in the North Sea. I feel certain that all the ministers and staff have aspired to arrive at a statement of conclusion that reflects willingness to meet the challenges that people quite rightly expect us to deal with.

We know that the North Sea has enormous potential. It is one of the world's most productive areas. It provides a basis for biological diversity. And it could serve as a basis for healthier resources and more profitable fisheries than what we are witnessing today. But this requires sustainable management of the fish resources.

We have long been aware of the unsatisfactory situation regarding North Se resources. Several measures have been implemented. Last year new research reports on the North Sea herring stock were presented.

Within the framework of co-operation between EU and Norway regarding fisheries, it was very soon decided to half the herring quota. In this year's quota agreement EU and Norway have decided to embark on a process for establishing a more sustainable rate of development for de demersal fish stocks of the North Sea.

The report submitted to this conference tells us that the present situation the North Sea is dramatic. The stocks of cod, North Sea herring and North Sea mackerel are in danger of depletion. For other stocks too, the situation is very serious. This is dramatic.

At the same time, the report also tells us that, as far as cod is concerned, there has been no great deviation between advice submitted by the scientists , recommended quota, adopted quota and landed catches. However, the problem is that the actual fish mortality has been much higher than expected, again as a result of faulty or missing reports on landing and discarding of fish. The dramatic situation in The North Sea indicates that we must recognise that today's fish stock management takes us in the wrong direction. Norway maintains that it is absolutely necessary to introduce a general ban against the discard of fish in the North Sea, and to implement more stringent protective measures for young fish, such as the use of more selective fishing gear and temporary closing of fishing grounds, and by the application of more efficient control procedures to ensure compliance with regulations and correct reporting of catches.

Unless we are able to implement such efficient measures, the situation will deteriorate further. This could force us into a situation where our only option is a major reduction in or even suspension of fishing activities. Given no other choice, Norway would be willing to do just that. However, I expect we all wish to avoid a suspension of fishing, which would have negative consequences both for the fisheries industry, individual people and local communities. Not to mention the tragedy involved for situation in the sea.

However, dear colleagues, only a display of political willingness and action can safeguard against this.

We all know that discarding of fish means that the fish is thrown overboard and hence not landed for sale to consumers or further processing. Fishermen carry on discarding for various reasons. According to EU regulations the fishermen have to sort their catches and throw overboard that portion of the catch which is below the required minimum size, and also the portion of the catch that consists of species of fish for which he does not have a quota.

Unfortunately, the damage has already been done before the fish is discarded. Discards does not in itself increase mortality, since the fish is already dead. But when the catch is not landed, and therefore not registered, there will obviously be a big discrepancy between registered and actual mortality of fish.

There is furthermore another phenomenon which is a cause for anxiety in that it contributes to distort the exploitation-pattern. This is the so-called "high-grading", which implies that a fisherman will remove more than is strictly required in order to sort out the most valuable portion of the catch and throw the rest overboard. If this takes place on a large scale, it will obviously undermine the measures we have implemented to protect the stocks.

Most worrying of all is perhaps not the resources wasted by discarding, but the fact that it means that we are not managing our resources in a prudent manner. Discards is a symptom of an exploitation-pattern which is not being sufficiently controlled. Unfortunately, however, we do not know the exact level of discards for the various fisheries. We only know that it is a widespread problem.

In the Assessment report, discards from the demersal fisheries alone is estimated at half a million tonnes. And this is in addition to discards from pelagic fisheries and shellfish. Let us look at haddock fishing in the North Sea as an example. This is the only fishery for which there exists representative discarding data. Approximately 60,000 tonnes have been thrown overboard annually in the last few years. In comparison, the aggregate quota for haddock has been approximately 120,000 tonnes in these years, and the spawning stock has been between 130,000 and 160,000 tonnes.

These figures demonstrate that what is actually removed from the sea is much more than the quotas we have provided for. Discards, measured in tonnes, is equivalent to approximately half the spawning stock. The figures are shocking in themselves. This is quite clearly not sustainable exploitation.

I therefore ask you to support Norway's proposal for an article 8.6 which provides for the introduction of a ban on discards. Such a ban should be implemented with urgency.

I have to inform you that discards of the commercially most important species is prohibited in Norwegian waters, and in the areas pertaining to Iceland, Greenland, the Faeroes, Russia and Canada. Nevertheless, it is not prohibited to discard in the EU-waters. On the contrary, in this area discarding is obligatory.

We can ascertain that as far as demersal species are concerned, we annually catch about 60% of the total stocks. This means that the fish has very little chance of reaching sexual maturity and contributing towards reproduction. And it means that the exploitation level of young fish is very high. This is not congenial to an efficient pattern of exploitation. It also makes us very dependent on annual recruitments to an efficient pattern of exploitation. It also makes us very dependent on annual recruitments to the stock. These are all circumstances that should direct our attention towards the various fishing methods used and the need for more selective fishing gear. Selective fishing gear, simply explained, means that we keep the big fish and let the little fish slip through so that they may continue to grow into big fish. The expenditure of ever more energy and capacity for catching a certain number of fish, is not only bad management of fisheries, it is also detrimental to the environment.

The present draft statement of conclusion will give us a good starting point. It sets out the main principles for sustainable management of the North Sea resources.

The further specification of such a fishery policy will and must take place within the framework of co-operation in fisheries issues between EU and Norway. As mentioned this work has already started.

This underlines how important it is that ministers and commissioners at this conference establish the clearest possible basis for the bilateral negotiations. I have noted that EU has made a general reservation relating to community legislation, and ask you to understand that this makes me even more surprised at the unwillingness to express clear principles, objectives and strategies which are being set out and which should be fairly obvious. Or to put it another way - does anyone disagree with the principles, objectives and strategies being set out in the statement?

Dear, colleagues, I invite you to join in a collective evaluation of how we can give our statement the greatest possible political force, so that no one will doubt that we now will pull together to rectify the dramatic imbalance described in the report submitted to the conference.

I look forward to interesting discussions, today and tomorrow.