At all times, the Norwegian has looked out at the rough sea and set sail, even when the storm is at its worst. When the bow hits the wave valley. When all equipment must be moored: That’s when you put your feet up. Fisheries Minister Cecilie Myrseth (Ap) gathered the entire power elite and important premise suppliers in Norway’s second largest export industry in Tromsø on Friday. As if she had an extra large ship’s bell on the quayside, there should be no shortage of signals about a renewed course for Norwegian fisheries policy. NOK 50 billion and many tons of exploding fish are at stake. She should take action, but at the same time ensure that her policy will stand up over time. It’s a demanding balancing act and that’s why she tries to set sea legs. Set out with the coast again? The major point of contention is that the government wants to move fishing quotas from the large ocean-going trawl fleet to smaller fishing vessels that fish closer to the coast. The government “takes” 2 percent of the trawlers’ quotas and transfers it to completely different shipping companies and fishermen. The little ones will be allowed to fish more at the expense of the big ones. Fisheries Minister Cecilie Myrseth believes she has found a golden mean, when she is met with political criticism both from those who believe she is taking too big and too small measures. On Friday, she presented the government’s new fisheries policy at a well-attended public meeting in her hometown of Tromsø. Photo: Aurora Ytreberg Meløe / news The government’s action is too little for Rødt, SV and Kystfiskarlaget, who want even greater redistribution. The move is too radical for the trawlers’ interest groups. The opposition in the Storting would say that it should be negotiated before any settlement. Politically, it may seem as if the government is embarking on a voyage reminiscent of the so-called salmon tax debate. You risk going out with the coast. Accusations of not understanding those who make tough investment decisions and bet big values and want something back will come. The concentration of power and money in the traditional fisheries is probably as great and has happened as much in secret as in the farming industry. Now Myrseth is taking action after the politicians have received criticism from the National Audit Office. She can live with individual shipowners and the organization Fiskebåt criticizing, it is worse if the far wider organization Norges Fiskarlag hangs on. She can live with criticism from the left and the right, if it neutralizes each other, but not if the criticism creates such big waves that we sense a new example of the coast and the business community and all the ripple effect industry on land turning against a government that does not understand them . Myrseth has not only been on behalf of her party, but also personally, concerned with moving power, money and resources from the big to the small, so no one should be surprised that she does this. If the big ones are too critical, a resource interest tax can meet them like a boomerang. A cod bait that hits much like a salmon bait. Such a special tax is precisely about taxing special profits on shared natural resources. In general, the quota notification consists of several clean-ups of the regulations that are overdue, uncontroversial and necessary. The most important thing is a clarification about what will happen to fishing quotas which for almost 20 years have been temporarily in private ownership before they must in the coming years be returned to the community following a Supreme Court judgement. There is a broad majority in favor of an arrangement that ensures investment and development, but prevents concentration of power, acquisitions and financial speculation. Challenging backdrop The past ten years have seen high waves in fisheries policy. The Solberg government put forward proposals, withdrew proposals, put forward new ones and, along the way, took on not insignificant parts of the industry. An important comma was put in history when the Solberg government finally adopted a quota notice in the spring of 2020, which the current governing parties were in awe of. Which was a long way from Høyre and FRP’s starting point and from which large parts of the industry distanced themselves. At about the same time that the Solberg government saved the stumps in the Storting, there were dramatic messages about the state of the fishing kingdom. A few years ago, the National Audit Office presented a harsh and startling criticism of Norwegian fisheries policy. They painted a picture that the development in the industry has almost run out of control without the politicians having intervened or understanding what has happened. More power and money are concentrated in fewer hands. To a greater extent than the Storting has assumed. Without the Ministry of Fisheries having intervened. The consequences for the coastal community have been negative. Fisheries policy has not been sufficiently well researched, so decisions have not been made on the basis of complete knowledge. Only now can the politicians respond to the National Audit Office’s criticism. It speaks for taking clear steps. If the measures are too radical, it is not certain that they will survive, but rather contribute to less predictability for the industry, which will invest large amounts in the coming years. The jobs are not at sea Fisheries policy is about much more than the distribution of fishing quotas. A fisheries policy for the future is to the highest degree advanced, concrete and complex social planning. In the deepest sense, it is about where people will live and work. Where roads, wharves and other infrastructure are to be improved. What should Norway look like? How do we redesign the north? In 2022, the Støre government received facts and advice about this. Myrseth answers to a small extent. More holistic guidelines for the future agricultural industry must be expected before the general election next year. More fish must be landed and processed in Norway in a way that contributes to year-round full-time jobs that are based to a lesser extent on labor immigration. Recent figures from Nofima show that the processing of whitefish is falling. The cod quotas have doubled in a few years, but there is almost no increase in the amount processed in Norway. Quotas and fleets are important in this context. The various vessel sizes must play the land industry well. Smaller boats fish close to shore. Larger boats store, freeze and process the fish on board. The ocean-going fleet goes far out to sea, following the fish throughout the year. It is possible to read the processing committee’s report as a desire for fewer and larger fish receptions that are more specialized and differentiated than today. It should not be ruled out that this is a discussion that will take time for a government consisting of Ap with a business policy leg and Sp with a district policy leg and deeply inherent centralization skepticism. Because it is not necessarily politically easier to concentrate power and money on the receiving side than it is on the vessel side. The balancing act Today’s government is in a range of expectations between changing the course of the fisheries policy, while at the same time not changing it so much that a new majority in the Storting will sooner or later change it back again. At the same time, there are good reasons to make changes. That is why Myrseth is trying to set sea legs. When you put on sea legs, it is to stand more steadily and to adapt yourself to the fact that there is unrest around you. It is to be able to stand steady enough to get something done. But the unrest itself, the way the waves beat, you can’t strictly do anything about.
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An attempt to set sea legs – Expression
