Norway may close access to its waters to EU and British fishing

Norway could seal off its fishing waters to British and European boats from January 1 because the stalemate in Brexit talks means an earlier UK-Norway deal cannot yet take effect, the Scandinavian country said today. 

The UK-Norway deal was trumpeted in September as Britain’s ‘first as an independent coastal state’, giving UK fishermen access to £32million worth of seafood in the cod-rich Norwegian waters. 

But Norway, which is not in the EU, says it wants a three-way deal before it opens up its waters – meaning the Brexit impasse could scupper the earlier agreement. 

‘If we do not get a deal by January 1, we will not open Norway’s economic fishing zones to vessels from the EU and Britain,’ fisheries minister Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen told parliament.

‘Neither can we expect Norwegian vessels to get access to their zones before a deal is in place,’ he said.  

Norway may close access to its fishing waters to European and British vessels from January 1, its fisheries minister has said. Above, a UK fishing boat off the coast of Yorkshire 

Norway is part of the European single market, and negotiates with the European Union about granting access to their respective waters.

Following Britain’s vote to withdraw from the bloc, Oslo also negotiates with London over reciprocal access. 

Britain will be fully out of the EU when the transition period ends on December 31, whether or not a free trade deal is struck with the 27 remaining members. 

That means the UK will no longer be part of the Common Fisheries Policy and can ‘decide who can access its waters and on what terms’, the government says.  

In September, Norway and Britain concluded a bilateral fisheries deal hailed as a ‘crucial step forward’ by Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator.

The Fisheries Framework Agreement provided for the UK and Norway to hold annual negotiations on the issues of access to waters and quotas. 

‘The agreement is testament to our commitment to acting as a cooperative independent coastal state,’ said UK environment secretary George Eustice at the time.   

But before any bilateral deals can kick in, Oslo wants a trilateral deal between Norway, the EU and Britain in place, and negotiations on this are not yet concluded, Ingebrigtsen said on Friday.

Negotiations over such a deal have been delayed because London and Brussels have not yet reached an accord governing their relations after Britain exits the bloc, including over fisheries, said the minister.

‘It is not a given that these (fisheries) talks can be concluded before the new year,’ he said.

Norway’s rich fisheries attract fishermen from the rest of Europe, in particular for its stocks of cod in the Barents Sea, which are sustainable.  

Brexit talks remain at a stalemate despite a last-ditch diplomatic push which saw Boris Johnson go to Brussels to meet European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen this week