Agreement on sustainable fisheries – disagreement on how

During ONKN’s panel debate, KNAPK, QAK and NTPAP were able to agree on the importance of making coastal halibut fisheries sustainable. However, there were disagreements about how this can be done in practice – here the panel came up with many interesting proposals.

The theme was sustainable fisheries based on the coastal fisheries for halibut when Ocean North Kalaallit Nunaat (ONKN) held its first consultation meeting in Nuuk on 30 May at 19-21. The purpose of the consultation meeting was to get a feel for how different actors understand the concept of sustainability and how they imagine sustainable fisheries can take place in practice. Katuaq’s Small Hall was the setting for presentations, as well as a panel debate between actors within the fisheries.

First, Helle Siegstad from The Greenland Institute of Natural Resources gave a presentation about the latest knowledge about coastal halibut and the biological counseling. Next, Rasmus Berg Hedeholm from Sustainable Fisheries Greenland gave a presentation about the advantages and disadvantages of MSC certification and what it takes to get the coastal halibut fishery MSC certified. Subsequently, ONKN invited to a panel debate between Nikkulaat Jeremiassen, Chair of KNAPK (Fishermen and Hunters Association in Greenland), Michael “Mikkili” Skourup, Head of secretariat for QAK (National Organization of Fishermen of Shellfish and other Fish Species), and Peter Davidsen, Chair of NTPAP (Association for Recreational Fishermen and Hunters in Nuuk). The Naalakkersuisoq (Minister) for Fisheries and Fishing, Karl Tobiassen had to cancel his participation at the last minute due to delays in Inatsisartut (Parliament).

During the panel debate, it became apparent that the actors broadly agreed that sustainability is important in the fisheries, but the differences stemmed in how – and when – this can be done. Some wholeheartedly supported MSC certification, even if it meant short-term restrictions to achieve long-term benefits – others believed that MSC certification should not be an obstacle to the development of fisheries. There was a proposal to turn the coastal areas into one large management area, as well as to extend the coastal fisheries out to the 12 nautical mile limit. Diversification of fisheries was also suggested as a way to make fisheries more sustainable, including start help to overcome obstacles. There were also proposals to make it easier to register the location of lost and found fishing equipment. It came up that it would benefit the industry to grant more funds to the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources to fill knowledge gaps and make better use of users’ knowledge. There was also broad agreement that the sustainability of the high fish mortality caused by the so-called cod cages could be questioned.

Finally, ONKN presented a top-ten list of current and future work topics and asked the audience to vote anonymously on their top-three priorities. The topic “Sustainable fisheries” scored 29 percent of the votes, while “Clean the Ocean Day” got 16 percent of the votes. In a joint third place were the subjects “Protected marine areas” and “Consultation meetings” with 13 percent of the votes each.

Despite a low attendance due to insufficient promotion of the consultation meeting, ONKN must highlight the great commitment which presenters, panelists, and audience contributed with to make the debate exciting and relevant. ONKN is planning future consultation meetings in other parts of the country, which will be based on local contexts. ONKN will use the contributions from these meetings to reflect on and take into consideration into the future strategy work.

On behalf of Jens Immanuelsen, Chair of Oceans North Kalaallit Nunaat,

Jenseeraq Poulsen

Executive Director, Oceans North Kalaallit Nunaat