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Home  Spotlight Articles Preempting or Prompting
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Written by Q. Bates — Fishing News International
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Governments often have little understanding of the changing nature of fisheries and fishermen, and how to react to this evolution — are the Faroese moving with the times or tinkering with what already works?
The Faroe Islands’ current fisheries management system appears to be due for an overhaul for the first time since it was implemented more than a decade ago. What happened in the years after the Faroese government decided to go against the prevailing fisheries management philosophy of individually transferable quotas (ITQs) and go for a days-at-sea regime instead has already been well documented and in broad terms, the system has worked extremely well with very little opposition to it.
Having taken office in February this year following a change of government in the Faroe Islands, new Fisheries Minister Tórbjörn Jacobsen, a colorful character and himself a former fishing skipper, is probably one of the most fortunate fisheries ministers anywhere in the world. He has taken over the reins of a fishery that shows all the hallmarks of genuinely efficient management and an industry that has not been polarized as has happened in many other countries with ITQ systems, or traumatized by the financial burdens the fishing sectors in many other countries have seen heaped on them with the costs of buying or leasing the rights to fish.
But after twelve years of the days-at-sea regime in virtually the same format as was originally envisaged, the first indications are beginning to appear that changes may be needed — and the new Faroese Minister’s intention is to examine the regime’s status and what, if anything, may need to be adjusted.
Fishing licenses were never intended to become tradable commodities, yet the trend has been in this direction, and the whole concept was absolutely not to encourage people to leave the industry, yet this is also taking place. He has also voiced concerns over what he terms the debt trap — having seen how fishermen in other countries have been forced to either borrow heavily to keep their businesses on an even keel, or get out.
Although the present fisheries management system is highly popular with a level of agreement between industry and the Faroese people that is probably entirely unique, there is a feeling that the system is beginning to lose sync with the changes in the industry as companies have amalgamated and the number of operators has fallen at the same time as there is a growing degree of vertical integration among larger companies, with some of the most prominent processors now also having become major vessel operators in their own right.
A task force of figures from industry and science is being mobilized to examine the present state of affairs and to evaluate the last twelve years of the days-at-sea management system.
According to Ministry permanent secretary Rógvi Reinert, a two-step process is underway, with a short-term evaluation set to deliver its results within a matter of months. The primary issue being addressed here is essentially whether or not there is a need to make adjustments to system that has already worked well and which is generally popular.
“We need to look at the system in place and evaluate how it has performed over twelve years. There is more to it than simply a days-at-sea regime, as we also have other options in the form of closed areas, with some very large areas closed to different sectors of the fleet, especially with some extensive fishing grounds that are closed to trawlers,” he says, adding that adjustments to fishing effort have in general consisted of reductions to the overall number of fishing days.
He explains that there is no will in the Faroes to overturn a management system that has served very well, and there is no question of replacing the effort-based system and any attempt to try this would be deeply unpopular.
If anywhere, then in Faroe: The new Minister, however, has already commented on the need to update the methodology used in evaluating fishing effort in a fleet that has changed significantly in its composition since the days-at-sea regime was implemented twelve years ago.
One of his aims is to ask the task force to look into ways of quantifying fishing effort and applying comparisons in a disparate fleet made up of a variety of classes of trawlers and static gear vessels. But an envisaged second phase is expected to look more deeply into the licensing system, under which licenses are the property of the state, with each vessel owner holding a license to operate in Faroese waters.
These licenses remain valid until 2018 under the present legislation. But a second license to fish is valid on an annual basis, although in practice these licenses remain in private hands with their holders unless there is a particular reason for a license to be withdrawn.
Mr Jacobsen has emphasized that he has no intention of rushing through any kind of changes in the legislation governing fisheries management without a broad base of support inside and outside Parliament and the industry. But his preference would be for licenses, quotas for distant water fisheries, and days-at-sea in home waters to be organized into a single cohesive whole based on transparency.
“It’s my intention to take the time to discuss issues thoroughly with the industry. Politically, any measures taken need to be backed up by all parties, both those in the government coalition and those in opposition. We should be looking for measures that can be examined and put in place during the life of this Parliament, but which will extend beyond the election cycle,” he says.
Vessel owners have voiced their opinions that licenses need to be allocated in perpetuity so that they have a solid basis for the substantial investments that go into fishing vessels, especially in the light of several record-breaking vessel purchases in recent years as some companies have left the industry after receiving offers for their vessels that are too good to be refused.
Mr Jacobsen is very much aware that there is a highly visible human rights aspect to the issues he has begun examining, and that the right to fish should not necessarily be limited to a few privileged license holders. This is also where part of the conflict of opinion arises — as fishing rights are widely regarded in countries such as the Faroe Islands that rely on fisheries for their economic survival as a national resource that is essentially the property of the population as a whole.
In a high-tech, modern fishery, there is no question that everyone will be able to fish for themselves and the bulk of fishing effort is backed by the investment that is necessary to run vessels and the business risks that accompany this — something that is also still fresh in the memories of the Faroese people who remember the hard times of the 1990s.
With a system that clearly works for the Faroes, it’s undoubtedly tempting to fall back on the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But at the same time, it’s as well to preempt problem issues by addressing them before they become insurmountable difficulties. As has been demonstrated in other countries, fishing is never an easy business to manage or regulate and governments generally have little understanding of the changing nature of fisheries and fishermen, and how to react to this evolution.
But if it can be done anywhere, it’ll be in the Faroe Islands.
(From the 2008 Faroe Business Report.)
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