A petition urging the government to reconsider a proposed bill, in which the terms of the law requiring fishing companies to pay a tariff for their use of Iceland’s fishing resources are to be changed, has been signed by more than 11,000 people.
The petition reads that it will be brought to President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, urging him to not sign the new bill and refer it to a national referendum, visir.is reports.
Photo courtesy of the Icelandic Photo Agency.
Debates involving the bill have been heated. The fishing tariffs were introduced with a bill approved on June 26, 2012, and were expected to give the Icelandic state a return of ISK 8.3-9.8 billion (USD 69-77 million, EUR 52-58 million) this year.
The estimated amount varies as fishing companies in serious debt are given a discount.
Visir.is reports that if the proposed bill on changes to the fishing tariff is passed, returns will be a great deal lower than originally expected.
The current estimate is ISK 13.8 billion (USD 115 million, EUR 86 million). The amount is expected to increase gradually until the 2016- 2017 fishing season, according to visir.is.
JB
