This is how the state responds to the sharp criticism of the fishing proposal – Gefle Dagblad

Like the newspaper told, the Maritime and Water Authority has looked at which ports in Sweden which are to be seen as particularly important for commercial fishing, so-called national interests. The County Administrative Board must ensure that national interests are not “tangibly damaged” when planning and deciding to build housing or other things.

But a number of actors in Gävleborg county are against the proposal to designate Norrsund, where the industrial trawlers unload fish, as the county’s only port of national interest for professional fishing. The trawlers have been criticized for vacuuming the sea for fish and depleting the small-scale, coastal fisheries.

Daniel Ghebrezghi, investigator at the Maritime and Water Authority in Gothenburg, now explains how they have thought. The list of ports of national interest has not been revised since 2006.

– This means that today we have ports that are decided on basis that are 20 years old. And there are requirements from the Housing Agency’s side that national interest claims must be kept up-to-date and correct. They must be updated at maximum eight-year intervals, he says.

In the proposal, the number of ports of national interest is reduced from 55 to 29. Why that?

– In the Housing Agency’s directive, there is a letter stating that we should be restrictive in pointing out national interests. Then what that means is of course up to interpretation, says Daniel Ghebrezghi.

He emphasizes that the new proposal has been based on similar selection criteria as in 2006. Among other things, how large catches are unloaded in the various ports and how many fishing vessels dock there.

A division has also been made into different segments where, for example, the top ten ports in large-scale industrial fishing and the top ten in small-scale, coastal fishing have been selected.

The bean still does not meet these criteria.

– Fishing today does not look like it did in 2006. Even if we use exactly the same criteria as then, the outcome would not be the same, he says.

How do you view the criticism that this only benefits large-scale industrial fishing?

– We take all input into account and will make a collective assessment of the opinions of the referral bodies. This is a proposal for a methodology for the identification of particularly important harbors for commercial fishing. We have gone out with the proposal to feel how it is received, says Daniel Ghebrezghi.

The critics believe that you look too narrowly at statistics on, for example, catches and that you should also consider other aspects such as the importance of having a local food supply.

– It is great that there are such contributions. This is the type of input we want to be able to make an assessment if the reference bodies consider the methodology viable or if there are other angles that we should take into account, he replies.

As the newspaper told is the owner of Norrsundet harbour, Colabit, against the plans of the Norwegian Maritime and Water Authority. The company has other plans for the port.

But how the authority should deal with it is too early to answer, says Daniel Ghebrezghi.

– We have not had such a situation before, so it will be very speculative. The referral proposal is based on names in the data. We have not gone into detail and checked individual cases. That is why we have a referral out so that we can take a closer look and take a position on the situation in individual ports, he says.

The publisher from the Maritime and Water Authority is out for consultation, where those concerned can give their opinion until April 30. All views must then be compiled before a final decision by the authority’s director general. Daniel Ghebrezghi does not dare to answer how quickly it can go.