The Icelandic Oceanographic Institute has confirmed that it has personnel stationed on Faroese freezer line vessels, addressing concerns raised by the newspaper Fiskifréttir.
The publication recently interviewed Icelandic fishermen, who expressed their belief that these Faroese vessels are overfishing cod in waters off Iceland’s coast.
The Icelandic presence aboard the Faroese ships is collaborative, undertaken in conjunction with the Icelandic Coast Guard. In most cases, however, oversight relies primarily on information provided by the vessels themselves and the Faroese fisheries authority, Vørn.
In terms of accountability, the fishing vessels also provide verbal reports detailing their catch, including the species harvested. Icelandic fishermen have voiced their desire for greater transparency, advocating for Faroese vessels to operate within Icelandic waters so that they can monitor the fishing activities firsthand.
However, representatives from the Icelandic Oceanographic Institute, also known as the Icelandic Fisheries Institute, emphasized that this matter transcends scientific oversight. “This is fundamentally a political issue and requires negotiations between the two nations,” one spokesperson remarked.
