The new Faroese Act on the Management of Marine Resources

A new era in the sustainable management of Faroese fisheries.

In January 2008, the Faroese Parliament agreed to denounce all fishing rights from 1 January 2018.

In January 2016, a commission was appointed by the Ministry of Fisheries, to make proposals for reforms in the fishery management based on clear political objectives and principles. This led to the Act on the Management of Marine Resources passing the Faroese Parliament in December 2017 to take effect from 1 January 2018.

The main principle of the fisheries reform is the premise that all living marine resources in Faroese waters and those to which the Faroe Islands have rights, through bilateral and international agreements, are the property of the people of the Faroe Islands; as such, they may never become private property and they may not be traded privately. As well as this, the fisheries reform is based on the principle of sustainable management of all fish stocks, both biologically, economically and socially.

Based on these principles, the reform is built on three main pillars:

• Sustainable fishing and conservation of fish stocks.
• Rights and access to fishing licences.
• Industry requirements and value adding.

To ensure sustainable fishing and conservation of fish stocks, the Act on Management of Marine Resources states that a long-term strategy for the management and utilization of marine resources is to be implemented for each stock in order to maintain the industry and the fish stocks at sustainable levels.

Furthermore, according to the Act, the Faroese fleet of longliners and trawlers catching demersal fish in Faroese waters will move from a days-at-sea system, to a quota system. Small fishing vessels, which conduct coastal fisheries on a smaller scale, will, however, continue to base their activity on annually allocated fishing days.

Under the pillar of rights and access to fishing licenses, a new element of public auctions will be introduced. Although the bulk of the quotas will still be allocated as in previous years through a grandfathering system, a certain amount of quotas will be sold on public auctions. Quotas sold on auctions can be one, three or eight years. As well as through auctions, quotas can also be allocated through a regional development quota scheme.

Finally, the fisheries reform also sets out requirements to the industry regarding landing obligations, antitrust, foreign ownership and value adding. As of 2019 no person or company can obtain more than 35 percent of the total quotas in the pelagic or demersal fisheries outside or inside the Faroese fisheries zone, furthermore no person or company can hold more than 20 percent of the total Faroese quotas. As of 2019 foreign ownership will also be phased out.