Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
And yet centuries of fishing have severely depleted fish stocks among species that were
once the mainstays of the Norwegian economy.
Until about 25 years ago, deep-sea fishing in the area was pretty much a free-for-all.
Ideal ocean conditions, wedded to the development of sonar, which located schools of her-
ring and other commercially valuable fish, ensured that during the 1960s the Norwegian
fishing community enjoyed particularly high catches. Such a bounty, however, was unsus-
tainable, andbythelate1970s,herringstockswerenearlywipedout.Inaddition,overfish-
ing depleted stocks of cod all across the North Atlantic.
In 2007 Henriette Westhrins, the then State Secretary, Ministry of Environment, told Lonely Planet: 'Oil
and gas extraction accounts for about one-fifth of our carbon dioxide emissions and just above one-fifth of
our current GDP. Yes, that puts our emissions per person up above the EU average. But our policies elimin-
ate any national feast of exorbitant consumption.'
Stung into action by the threat to tens of thousands of livelihoods, on 1 January 1977
Norway established a 200-nautical-mile offshore economic zone, which was extended to
Svalbard later that year and to Jan Mayen in 1980. The country now has agreements with
the EU, Russia, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and Poland to set quotas. Three dec-
ades of conservation measures later, including strict quotas, the herring-fishery industry is
recovering.Cod-fishingregulationsarenowinplace,althoughitwillbemanyyearsbefore
the numbers return.
Despite these policies, a draft report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 1998 found
thatNorwegiansplacethreeorfourtimesasmuchpressureontheenvironmentastheaver-
age global citizen and were 'the most environmentally destructive people on earth', thanks
largelytotheirconsumptionofmarinefish;thenationalcatchamountsto250kgoffishper
Norwegian per year, over 10 times the world average. The final report was later amended
after claims by the Norwegian government that much of the data was either wrong or mis-
interpreted.
HenrietteWesthrins,thenStateSecretary,MinistryofEnvironment,toldusin2007:'We
harvest about 2.5 million tonnes of marine life out of a world catch in the mid-80 millions.
Yes,itismorethanourshareoftheglobalpopulation.Thisis,ofcourse,becausewehavea
very, very long coastline. Fish cross borders, so we have to cooperate with our neighbours
in setting quotas. In particular cod, herring and mackerel have been overfished in the past,
so sustainable quotas for all species are high on our list of priorities.'
It's fair to say that Norwegians usually view the critical depletion of fish stocks in Nor-
wegian waters as much through the prism of economic self-interest as they see it as a
strictly environmental concern. Throughout recorded history, the seas off the Norwegian
coast have provided bountiful fishing opportunities and thereby providing a critical back-
bone to the Norwegian economy. Still Norway's second-largest export earner, it was one
