Storm from SV red and MDG against the quota report in the Storting – NRK Troms and Finnmark

The fishermen warn that they will block ports in protest against what the Storting has now agreed on.

Only a small minority of politicians will make major changes in how the right to fish is distributed.

SV, Rødt and MDG believe that the so-called quota report fails to correct the old injustice that the National Audit Office has pointed out: Coastal communities have lost both quotas and the fishing industry, and young people who want to enter the profession are the losers.

SV calls it a quota robbery.

A broad majority, on the other hand, are proud that they have gathered around what they believe is a predictable fisheries policy.

These are “wise, well-thought-out adjustments”, according to Jenny Klinge (Sp).

At the same time, Runar Sjåstad (Ap) says that is a redistribution in favor of the smallest boats that do coastal fishing.

Incomprehensible and undemocratic

But exactly what lies in the agreement is not entirely easy to grasp.

– The quota notice is written in a made-up tribal language that is so incomprehensible that it is downright undemocratic, said Rasmus Hanson (MDG).

Together with SV and Rødt, he attacked the majority.

– What a shame it is to see the Labor Party and the Center Party in this matter, said Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes (SV).

– They have promised both in programmes, in the Hurdal platform and in a number of statements that now it is the coast’s turn. Ap and Sp do not keep their word. They turn their backs on the coast – and think they can get away with it.

Was prosecuted for “betrayal”

Geir Jørgensen from Rødt was no milder.

– This is one of the biggest betrayals we have seen in Norwegian fishing history. This is a day for increased contempt for politicians, said Jørgensen.

He pointed out that hundreds of fishermen in open groups will still be allowed to fish 6 percent of the cod. At the same time, the company Lerøy alone has 10 percent of the total quota, Jørgensen said.

He believes the majority is continuing the policy that the National Audit Office reprimanded.

– We had expectations that an Ap and SP government would really reverse the injustice. But a broad agreement has been reached with the right that this injustice will continue unabated in the future.

Right-winger Olve Grotle responded and said that the Norwegian fishing industry would not be profitable today if action had not been taken in the 70s and ensured that there were fewer fishermen and fewer boats.

– Back then, the Norwegian fishing industry had to have subsidies. The industry itself took action, said Grotle.

Get creative with the calculator

The representatives who belonged to the majority did not agree on how much fish had actually been moved from the large ocean-going fleet to the coastal fleet.

– The FRP has contributed to a solution which means that the redistribution of resources from the ocean-going fleet to the coastal fleet will not be significant, said Bengt Rune Strifeldt.

Saks mayor Willfred Nordlund (Sp), however, said that there is a “significant redistribution” in the report.

– The trawlers are experiencing a decline, he said.

Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes thought Nordlund had been “creative on the calculator”.

The increase for the coastal fleet in the open group is half a percent, he said.

The sea fishing fleet has, on paper, a small decline, but in return they must have the first right to take over the quotas left over from so-called third countries.

It can add up to a lot, said Fylkesnes.

– There were 12,000-13,000 tonnes of cod last year. And then we haven’t mentioned haddock and sei. There are huge values. The mayor is keeping it out of the question, Fylkesnes said – to protests from Nordlund.

Two from Sp with their own quota proposal

Two representatives from the Center Party, Geir Adelsten Iversen and Per Olaf Lundteigen, announced that they will not vote for the quota report for which their own government has received a majority.

Iversen said that the trawlers, which were supposed to provide year-round jobs along the coast, do not deliver the catch to the local communities, as they should.

– A number of larger fleets also pass by the communities in the north, to freezing facilities, and send the fish for production elsewhere, said Iversen.

Therefore, Iversen and Lundteigen suggest that fish be set aside for district quotas which are managed by the municipalities, and which cannot be sold.

Left-wing tirade against black paint

After almost three hours of debate in the Storting, Venstre’s Alfred Bjørlo had received an overdose of powerful rhetoric.

– The most negative thing for Coastal Norway is the one-sided and meaningless black paint of a broad political compromise.

Over 140 of the 165 representatives supported it, he said.

– It is not the right side. The majority belong left side. To portray it as a right-wing party that is in the pocket of the forces of capital and overruns the coast is meaningless, said Bjørlo.

– It is a balanced compromise. And we are strengthening the coastal fleet.