UK, Norway Fishing Quota Talks Break Down Without Deal

Oslo, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Apr, 2021 ) :Norway and Britain have ended their negotiations for a bilateral deal on fishing quotas in 2021 without reaching an agreement, the Norwegian government announced Friday.

Both sides had mutually agreed that it was "time to put an end to the negotiations," the government said in a statement.

"Brexit has undoubtedly created a series of challenges for the Norwegian fishing industry. It has proven extremely difficult to get an agreement with the UK on access to (fishing) areas and a quota exchange for 2021," said Norwegian fisheries minister Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen.

"In regard to the possibility of reciprocal access to fishing quotas in our respective territorial waters in (fish) stocks that we share, our views were too far apart to reach an agreement." This means that Norwegian fishermen will not be able to fish in British waters and their British counterparts will not be able to fish in Norwegian waters this year.

In March, the EU, Britain and Norway reached a three-way agreement, the first since Brexit, for the overall level of allowable catches in the North Sea.

But the three parties still had to reach bilateral agreements on quota exchange and access to each other's fishing grounds.

While Oslo and Brussels reached such an agreement, the EU and Norway still had to find common ground with Britain.

As a compromise was not reached with London by the deadline set at the end of March, the EU adopted temporary quotas until July 31 for waters shared with Britain.

Tensions have resurfaced in recent days, with European fishermen complaining about London's tardiness in issuing fishing permits for the zone off the British coast.