Naalakkersuisoq to the fishermen: How do you want your quotas?

Naalakkersuisoq for fishing and catching met today with fishermen in North Greenland for the first fisheries seminar.

Naalakkersuisoq for fishing and catching, Aqqaluaq B. Egede (IA) and his Department of Fisheries today opened the doors of a fishing seminar in Ilulissat.

About 70 people attended the seminary in Hotel Arctic. Participants included members of the coastal fishing and hunting organisations, association representatives from Sisimiut and the north, members from the Inatsisartut Fisheries and Catch Committee and paediaph officials.

Aqqaluaq B. Egede opened the seminar with a desire to hear the participants’ opinion on the Fisheries Commission report.

If the quotas become negotiable or not negotiable, what do you think about quotas being their own by individual fishermen? That is what we need from Naalakkersuisut. You’ve seen now that you suddenly face challenges at your worst. How are we going to find a solution?,” Aqqaluaq B. Egede asked at the seminar.

Disagreement in KNAPK over quotas

The issue of fishermen owning their own quotas was among the talking points at the seminary. According to the Fisheries Commission’s report, it says that fishing would be safer and more sustainable if fishermen were to receive quotas individually.

The Fisheries Commission’s report states that KNAPK supports the proposal that coastal dinghy fishermen should be given individual tradable quotas, i.e. quotas that a single fisherman owns himself, but which can be sold to other fishermen.

But today KNAPK’s local branch in Uummannaq said that a majority of fishermen in their department are opposed to the idea of them being given individual tradable quotas.

The new shrimp fishermen’s organisation, set up in January, was also part of the fisheries seminar. The chairman, Henrik Sandgreen, told the organization that more members fishing for other fish species had come to the organization.

The aim of the fisheries seminar is to help form the basis for a new fisheries law. The seminar will continue in Ilulissat tomorrow. Then there is also a two-day fishing seminar in Nuuk next week.