Languages

Norway and Russia agree on Barents Sea quotas for 2015

The agreement was signed in Oslo by heads of the two countries' delegations Arne Røksund and Ilya Shestakov.

Norway and Russia on Friday signed a new fisheries agreement for the Barents Sea for 2015. Quotas on cod remain high, but are down from 2014 down, in accordance with scientific recommendations.

Location

Norway and Russia have agreed to set the total allowable catch (TAC) for cod in the Barents Sea for 2015 at 894,000 tons, which is 99,000 tons less than in 2014 and in accordance with limits advised by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), Nord24 writes.

After one week of negotiations in the Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission the 2015 Barents Sea quota agreement was signed by Ilya Shestakov from Russia and Arne Røksund from Norway.

The TAC for haddock will remain the same as in 2014 – 178,500 tons, while the TAC for capelin will increase considerably, from 65,000 tons to 120,000 tons.

Both the Norwegian and Russian parties were pleased with the results of the negotiations. “This is a good result,” head of the Russian delegation says to Nord24. “We were able to reach compromise solutions that will allow us to both preserve the environment and marine resources, but also ensure that fishermen have favorable conditions for their business.”

Norway and Russia have conducted joint fishery research expeditions in the Barents Sea since 1965, and the data are vital for the setting of catch quotas by the Joint Norwegian-Russian Fishery Commission.

Norwegian and Russian scientists recently finished this year’s joint fishery expedition to the Barents Sea, as BarentsObserver reported. The collected data indicated that the quantities of cod in the Barents Sea is the second highest ever observed. The situation for herring and capelin appeared however negative and far below expectations, so there can possibly be changes in the quotas for 2016.