– With today’s prices, that would mean over 500,000 in lost income, says Arne Pedersen in Vadsø. It will happen if the authorities do as the marine scientists recommended this week: That next year you fish far less than half as much crab as this year. And bad news rarely comes alone. The fishermen also get less cod next year. The quota is the lowest in 15 years, and marks the end of a good period for cod. This will be a double whammy for the fishermen. They have been well used in recent years. Two years ago, news told the story of crabs at NOK 1,000 each, and later the price per kilo rose even more – to over NOK 500. In autumn 2021, crab prices dropped completely, and fisherman Bjørn Thomassen could pose with an individual worth NOK 1,000. Photo: Knut-Sverre Horn / news This is how fishermen can lose when quotas are cut Loss of king crab: If we calculate NOK 350 per kilo, a slightly larger boat with a quota of 2300 kg of king crab will get an annual income of NOK 805,000. If you cut 60 percent of the income, they lose NOK 483,000. (There are usually two men on board.) For a shark under 11 metres, often driven by just one man, who has a slightly smaller quota, the loss quickly adds up to a minimum of NOK 350,000 for the king crab alone. Loss of cod: A fishing boat between 11 and 15 meters often has 60 tonnes of cod. If we assume a kilo price for cod of NOK 33, they lose approx. NOK 400,000 when the quota is cut by 20 per cent. Smaller sharks in the so-called open group have approx. 24 tonnes of cod. They lose almost NOK 180,000 per boat. How much the fishermen lose from the quota cut depends on the price of the catch. It can go up when there is less cod and crab in the market, but there are many factors that decide. It may also look different if the quotas are not to be distributed in the same way as before. Very little Arne Pedersen is a former leader of Norway’s Coastal Fishermen’s Association, and now leads a local team. He sees that it will be necessary to limit the crab catch in order to get more fishing in the future. – There is a lot of crab in the sea, but it is small, and much of it is damaged. There has been very high fishing pressure in recent years, but only on the largest crab. And then you get results like this, says Pedersen. – If you are going to have sustainable fishing, then you have to reduce the fishing pressure. The researchers found very few king crabs when they examined the seabed in Eastern Finnmark this autumn. Therefore, they will cut the quotas for next year by around 60 per cent. Photo: JØRGEN REE WIIG / FISHERIES DIRECTORATE May struggle to meet the requirement As if this were not enough: Less cod in the sea means yet another problem for the fishermen. Namely, they must fish a certain amount of cod and other white fish first to be allowed to fish for king crab. For the smallest boats, it will be difficult to go far out to sea for cod. In the worst case scenario, the entire crab quota is lost. – You must fish for a minimum of NOK 200,000 to earn a quota right for crab. And if there is no catchable cod inside the fjords, or there is too little, then of course they will have problems. It is not so good for the very little ones to go out into the ocean, says Arne Pedersen. – We must have far more individuals to take the cod quota. And so there are small fish that dominate. The king crabs have provided good business and new life in several coastal communities. Jim Miranda and Jurij Gensaft sort crabs in Dyfjord. Photo: Knut-Sverre Horn / news Will take care of the smallest The crab crash comes as no surprise, says Inge Arne Eriksen, who heads the Sea Sami business organization Bivdu. – Those fishermen who have followed along, and most have, they have understood the plan. There have been more small crabs and less crabs, he says. – It was in the cards that there would be a decline. That it got so big was perhaps surprising. Inge Arne Eriksen heads the Sea Sámi business organization Bivdu Photo: Johan Isak Niska / news Eriksen believes that it is usually the smallest who get into such situations the hardest. – We shall try to prevent that as far as possible. That you take care of everyone. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries usually sets next year’s king crab quota during December.
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Fisherman Arne Pedersen may lose half a million in the king crab crash – news Troms and Finnmark
