IP/95/196

Brussels, 28 February 1995

SPOKESMAN'S SERVICE

The European Union and Norway reached an Agreement on Saturday morning, 25 February, on the level and the sharing of a number of important fish stocks in the North Sea, and on the exchange of a large amount of other stocks in each other's fishing zone for 1995. Mrs Emma BONINO, Commissioner responsible for Fisheries welcomes the decision : "I hope that it will help us to build a lasting and cooperative relationship with Norway, in Fisheries as in other sectors".

This agreement will replace the "interim agreement" that was concluded immediately after the Norwegian referendum on Accession in late November 1994, with the aim of guaranteeing the continuity of the fishing activity for about 2,000 vessels in the North-East Atlantic.

Agreement was reached on the TAC (Total Allowable Catch) and sharing of cod (120.000 tonnes), haddock (120.000 tonnes), plaice (115.000 tonnes), whiting (81.000 tonnes), saithe (107.000 tonnes), herring (440.000 tonnes) and mackerel (630.000 tonnes). The parties based themselves on the available scientific advice, prepared by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, but took also into consideration socio-economic arguments when establishing the TACs. In the case of the North Sea cod stock, it was decided to establish a lower TAC than recommended by the scientists in order to accelerate the rebuilding of this still very fragile stock.

The sharing of the mackerel stock was a major bone of contention as Norway claimed a larger share of this stock on the basis of a changing migration pattern of the mackerel, which now seems to remain for a longer period in Norwegian waters. The parties finally concluded that the data on migration and area distribution did not provide an adequate basis for discussion of stock characteristics, and the agreement on the TAC for the various components of this stock followed finally the line of previous years.

An important amount of other stocks were also exchanged. Norway granted fishing possibilities for the European fleets in the Barentz Sea, while the Union offered quotas to Norway in European Union and Greenlandic waters.

In total, more than 1.5 million tonnes of fishing possibilities are covered by this agreement which is of paramount importance for maintaining existing fishing patterns in the North-East Atlantic.