It is an old, worn and almost empty ferry that slams into the quay at the ferry berth in Botnhamn on Nord-Senja in Troms. It has just received enough government funding to permanently cross the Malangsfjord between Kvaløya and Senja on a year-round basis. The coming-of-year ferry stands in stark contrast to the new magnificent fishing vessels, which adorn the entrance to the village of Senja: Among them: the 40-metre-long “Trondskjær”, the 39-metre-long “Lise Beate” and the 27-metre “Leif Helge” meters. – We are two families who own the shipping company together, explains Marius Berntsen, general manager of the fishing boat shipping company Oddvar Nes AS. The case in summary: The fishing boat operator Oddvar Nes AS in Botnhamn on Senja, with four fishing vessels and 40 employees, faces uncertainty with its debt of NOK 400 million pending the government’s new quota notification. The government is considering changes in fisheries policy, which may affect the distribution of fishing quotas, potentially affecting values worth several hundred million kroner for coastal shipping companies such as Oddvar Nes AS. Larger fishing vessels have invested in tradable structure quotas, which has significantly increased their debt. Changes in the allocation of quotas can lead to financial uncertainty for these shipping companies. There is concern that major changes in quota distribution could lead to bankruptcy for many coastal fishing companies and potentially require government intervention to save banks. The new quota notification will deal with questions about the redistribution of fishing quotas, which can have great economic significance for coastal fishing companies. The discussion surrounding the quota notification also includes how the structural quotas should be redistributed when they reach the end of their lifetime, which can have a major impact on small and large fishing vessels. The summary is carried out by an AI service based on ChatGPT, and is editorially processed by a journalist at news. Managing director Marius Berntsen commutes every day from his family in the neighboring village of Fjordgård in Senja, to the shipping office and the boats located in Botnhamn. Photo: Eskild Johansen / news With 35 years under his belt, he has a turnover of over NOK 200 million a year, through four fishing vessels, which provide work for 40 fishermen and land employees, including himself. Something that worries shipowner Berntsen ahead of the upcoming quota announcement is that the debt in the shipping company is over NOK 400 million. On Friday, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Cecilie Myrseth (Ap) will present the government’s new fisheries policy. It concerns fishing rights for NOK 50 billion. For two families in Nord-Senja, values worth several hundred million in fishing quotas are at stake. Fishing weather around Malangen, which divides Senja and Kvaløya in Troms. Botnhamn is a two-hour car and ferry ride outside Tromsø. Cecilie Myrseth and Bjørnar Skjæran regularly met Husøydagan at Senja, to discuss fisheries policy. In the middle between both stands the current communication advisor at Hurtigruten, Martin Henriksen. Photo: Lars Egil Mogård / news Will take from the big ones and give to the small fishing boats – What is clear in the government’s platform is to ensure a fairer distribution of resources, Cecilie Myrseth told news in October, when she suddenly took over the baton from her party colleague in Nordland, Bjørnar Skjæran. It was barely a month before her colleague, and then State Secretary in the Ministry of Fisheries and Industry, Vidar Ulriksen (Ap), said goodbye and retired. Vidar Ulriksen took his hat and went home to Western Norway, one month into Cecilie Myrseth’s term as minister. Since then, he has refused all interview attempts. Photo: Brit Jorunn Svanes To news, he stated missing his former employer, Bjørnar Skjæran, and a change of cabinet as the reason why he chose to resign before the quota notification was in place. – I had a close collaboration with Skjæran and greatly appreciated him. It was sad when he had to go, he said. Thus began speculation in the fishing industry about what “personal touch” Myrseth was about to put on the quota notice. – There is hardly any good news behind that departure, says fish buyer Egil Johansen to news. Today, you can buy and sell fishing quotas. This has not always been the case. The National Audit Office criticized fisheries policy Fish buyer in Botnhamn on Senja, Egil Johansen, has followed the fluctuations in fisheries policy over the years. He lives on a small green fish farm, next to Marius Berntsen’s shipping office. Egil Johansen remembers well the story of why it was necessary to open up the purchase and sale of fishing quotas: Egil Johansen is the general manager and owner of the fish farm in Botnhamn. Photo: Eskild Johansen / news – I remember Fisheries Minister Svein Ludvigsen presented the concept on Husøy on Senja, just north of here from Botnhamn, in 2002, recalls Johansen. Ludvigsen’s proposal was that fishing vessels should be allowed to buy quotas from fishing vessels and fishermen who were on their way out of fishing. – The vessels were old and bad, and the fishermen earned little money. Some had to get out, so that others would get better. He himself believes that it was an absolutely necessary solution. – So it came as a shock to us when the National Audit Office concluded in 2020 that it was objectionable that the fisheries policy in recent years has led to a concentration of ownership, and fewer vessels, Johansen says resignedly and adds: – That was really the point. This criticism has been central to today’s government in formulating the goal of a new fisheries policy: – We have seen small coastal communities being weakened, resources end up in fewer hands and there are increasingly larger boats. While the profitability of the fleet has strengthened, the activity on land has decreased, said the then spokesperson for fisheries policy in Labor Party, Cecilie Myrseth, when the report was presented. This is how the structure quotas work: Photo: Klemet Anders Sara / news Sapmi All vessels have their own basic quota. For large vessels, such a cod quota can be around 110 tonnes of cod (2024). This does not amount to operating or financing new large coastal vessels. That is why the then fisheries minister, Svein Ludvigsen (H), opened the door in 2002 for certain fishing vessels to sell their own basic quotas, in exchange for these vessels leaving the fisheries. These quotas set aside between 10 and 20 per cent of their quota base before they are converted into structural quotas. They have a limited lifespan of 20 years from the time they are changed until they are withdrawn. Vessels over 27 meters often have 70-80 per cent structural quotas, since the vessels are large and expensive and have many employees. Such vessels would therefore like to have quotas that disappear as their service life ends. The first structural quotas will be withdrawn in 2027. Two families joined forces. There have always been large vessels on the north side of Senja. The weather can be inhospitable on the two large fishing grounds outside the large island in Troms. Marius’ father Trond Berntsen, formerly owned the fishing vessel MS “Segla” together with his brother, and lived in the village of Fjordgård, an hour east of Botnhamn. Today, the fishing boat company owns two large vessels of 39 and 40 metres, in addition to a shipping company with one large coastal vessel of 27 metres, and one smaller coastal vessel of less than 15 metres. Trond Berntsen hopes his family can live on from his shipping company, when one day he puts in the years. Photo: Eskild Johansen / news This meant that the crews could take turns on the boats and combine a fishing life with a family life. – We have had a shared vision of creating good and safe workplaces, and a shipping company with good enough earnings that we could give a decent return, so that we could stay with good boats and good people, explains Berntsen. 74 percent of the quotas on the large coastal vessels on Senja are structural quotas. The quota report must determine where they end up after the end of their lifetime. To redistribute quotas for billions The biggest fear among the large coastal fishing companies is that the government will implement major changes. Changes that could mean they lose part of their fishing quotas. Because the extra fishing quotas they bought have an expiry date. The question everyone is now asking is: What will happen to the negotiable structure quotas, when they reach the end of their useful lives? The government must now make a decision on how these quotas are to be redistributed. The quota notification must provide an answer to that. – As fishermen, we are used to taking account of changes in the sea, from nature’s side and changing markets and prices. What we cannot take into account are redistributions of the quotas that severely exceed the operating basis, says Marius Berntsen. What should the quota report decide? When the tradable structure quotas reach the end of their useful lives – they must be distributed back to the existing vessel quotas. How this distribution turns out will determine how much individual vessels have to fish with in the future: Should they be distributed among the basic quotas of the vessels where they ended up? Should they be distributed among the land quotas where they originally belonged? Should they be distributed only on basic quotas, or also on structural quotas that have not yet reached the end of their life cycle? Fears of bankruptcy along the coast Many large coastal shipping companies have taken out large loans based on the current quota policy. Marius fears that some shipping companies may have problems if the government implements too big changes. news has analyzed the accounts of over 2,300 fishing companies in the period 2016 to 2021. In those years, fishing boat owners’ debt increased from NOK 42.6 to NOK 61.8 billion. This is an increase of 45 percent. – With billions in loans, secured among other things in today’s fishing quotas, the government will have to bail out banks in the worst case, Marius points out. He has the following hope for the new quota notification: – All we ask is that the government presents balanced and predictable solutions that do not kick the legs under the fishing boat companies along the coast. Nobody benefits from creating winners and losers. Least of all our own coastal communities, he concludes.
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Values worth NOK 50 billion are at stake – news Troms and Finnmark
