Fishermen in the Westman Islands, south of Iceland, and other inhabitants demanded at a meeting yesterday that the government abolish its plans of a fishing quota lapse, which means that those who currently possess a fishing quota will give up a portion of it every year to a national natural resources fund.
Fishing in Iceland. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
“It is by nature an attack on the operating basis of companies in the fishing industry and thereby on the living standard and employment security of people working in the industry,” the attendees of the meeting reasoned, according to Morgunbladid.
The attendees also protested the plans of Minister of Fisheries Jón Bjarnason to raise export tariffs on frozen fish and abolish the fisherman’s discount.
Mayor of the Westman Islands Ellidi Vignisson pointed out that inhabitants of 24 fishing villages all around Iceland have protested the quota lapse method, so there is a large opposition against the government’s plans for the fishing industry.
Click here to read more about the debate surrounding the quota lapse.
