Greenland halibut and haddock caught in the Svalbard region

17.3.2011

Question for written answer E-002979/2011
to the Commission
Rule 117
Jarosław Leszek Wałęsa (PPE)

In recent years the unjustified appropriation of the quota for Greenland halibut caught in the area around Svalbard, based on an agreement between Norway and Russia, has been a growing problem. In 2009 Norway and Russia divided up between them a quota of 15 000 tons of Greenland halibut without taking into account the interests of the other countries fishing in the Svalbard region; 96 % of that quota was split between Norway and Russia for directed halibut fishery, while the remaining 4 % was for the other countries fishing in these waters, but only as by-catch.

During the 2010 negotiations between the EU and Norway the Norwegians announced that they intended to apply a similar arrangement to the haddock quota in the Svalbard region.

If the halibut example is used as the model for dividing the haddock quota between Norway and Russia, the interests of third countries would again be ignored and they would face losing their fishing rights in the Svalbard region.

The 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty, which provides for its signatories to freely exploit the region’s natural resources, including the right to fish, makes no mention of special privileges for Norway or Russia. The differing interpretations of the Treaty’s provisions, and indeed a general lack of compliance with those provisions, are a result of the region’s still unclear legal status.

In the current situation Norway and Russia are ignoring the guarantees laid down in the Spitsbergen Treaty, which precisely defines the signatories’ rights. They themselves though are exercising their rights by invoking the 1982 Montego Bay Convention, which is merely a collection of general principles of the modern law of the sea.

Under international law, is it not the case that the Norwegian-Russian agreement appropriating the majority of the Greenland halibut quota ignores the fundamental principles of the historic Spitsbergen Treaty (which in this case is primary law)? What action does the Commission intend to take to ensure that there is a fair division of quotas for fishermen from other countries?

OJ C 294 E, 06/10/2011