continue to be at risk of being scooped up in gillnets off Greenland,” said Mr. Taylor.
Greenland is getting a lot of pressure from its fishermen for a much larger salmon fishery and to be allowed to sell their salmon to markets outside Greenland. At the meeting, Greenland read a statement by The Association of Fishers and Hunters in Greenland (KNAPK), who are demanding salmon that they can process and sell and contribute to the growth of their country’s economy through export. KNAPK’s written statement indicated that the fishermen wanted a minimum of a 1,500 tonne quota.
While the other Parties used every avenue at their disposal to lower Greenland’s harvest to a level more in line with the advice of the ICES, this was impossible under the NASCO Convention that requires unanimous support by all Parties to the regulatory agreement. It is laudable that the Faroe Islands once again agreed to no catch on their feeding grounds, where 20% of the catch could be made up of North American salmon that migrate there. NASCO did agree to improved monitoring and control measures to be implemented by Greenland.
One option now is for a private agreement to be worked out, like the one that was in effect between 2002 and 2011, before Greenland’s harvest began to escalate in 2012. The escalation was due to the introduction of a fishery to sell salmon to factories and Greenland’s insistence that the subsistence fishery has no cap. The private agreement was between the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (NASF) of Iceland, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, KNAPK, and the Greenland Government. NASF has had a private agreement with the Faroes fishermen since 1992, which has helped keep catches there at zero.
Bill Taylor concluded “ASF will continue to work with Canada, the United States and non-government partners both inside and outside NASCO to conserve and restore salmon and deal with the challenges presented by Greenland’s intent to continue its significant harvest of North American salmon.”