The agreement give Norway jurisdiction over all the waters west of the delimitation line, and the country will use different methods to squeeze out Russian fishermen from these rich waters, Russian fishermen fear.
- We have lost an area of 90.000 km² and the possibility to fish in the western parts of the Barents Sea, said Vyacheslav Zilanov, leader of the largest interest organization for Russian fishermen in Northern waters in an interview with the newspaper Vzglyad.
Read also: Norway and Russia sign maritime delimitation agreement
According to Zilanov, Russian fishermen catch 300-315 000 tons of fish in the western part of the Barents Sea annually, while the amount on the eastern side is only 210-215 000 tons. If Russian fishermen loose the opportunity to fish in this area, Russia will lose some RUB 1.5-2 billion (€34.5 billion) every year.
Zilanov believes that Norway will use different methods to gradually force Russian fishermen out of the western parts of the Barents Sea. If Norway forbids fishing with trawl in the area, it will have disastrous consequences for Russian fisheries, he said, since 95 percent of the catch is made by trawling, and only 5 percent by long-line. Norway uses trawl to catch only 30 percent of the fish.
- If Norway takes new measures to regulate trawling, they will say “it is not a discriminatory step, because we also impose it on our own”, but it will only affect our fleet 100 percent, he said.
Also Head of the Association of Fishing Companies of the North, Vasily Nikitin believes that Norway will try to get the rich resources for itself: - Earlier the Norwegians followed their rules, and the Russian fishermen followed their own. Now our northern neighbors have enough levers to push the Russians out of the rich fishing grounds in the Barents Sea, he said to Regnum.ru.
The agreement is up for ratification in the parliaments of both Russia and Norway, and Zilanov hopes that the Russian politicians will see the need for changes in the article on fishing before it is finally signed.
