Enforcement

Day to day administration and enforcement of the Fisheries Act and related legislation is in the hands of the Directorate of Fisheries, a government body responsible to the Minister of Fisheries. The Directorate is also responsible for the continuous monitoring of compliance with the Act.

The Icelandic Coast Guard, responsible to the Minister of Justice, monitors fishing activities in Icelandic waters, including surveillance of areas closed for fishing and inspection of mesh sizes and other gear related practices.

The Department of quota allocations of the Directorate issues commercial fishing permit, allocates catch quotas to Icelandic fishing vessels and maintains records of those rights. It also records quota transfers between vessels and checks that vessels do not fish in excess of their quotas. The department collects data on fishing and the catches landed by the Icelandic fleet and monitors compliance with rules on the weighing and recording of catches.

All the catch landed in Iceland by the Icelandic fishing fleet must be weighed and reported in Iceland. Port authorities are responsible for the correct weighing and recording of the catch. All landed catch is weighed on certified scales by licensed operators who are employed by the local port authorities or sometimes by a plant that is approved for this purpose. A computer system links all the ports of landings to the Directorate and catch data is entered directly to a database located at the headquarters. The fishing by on-board processing vessels is monitored by weighing the landed products in a similar way and by conversion to catch weight by means of yield indices, estimated several times per day by sampling the catch and processed products on board.

To some degree, Icelandic fishing vessels sell their catch directly on fish markets in Europe. In those instances, the catches are monitored by records of sales transmitted from the importing country to the Directorate of Fisheries.

A team of inspectors is employed by the Directorate for supervision of correct practices in the fisheries. To a large extent the work of the Directorate's inspectors involves the monitoring of landing and weighing practices but they have many other functions. Inspection on-board processing vessels is extensive and this involves monitoring yield in processing and other catch and processing practices. Supervision at sea for fishing vessels in general is also undertaken and inspectors may board fishing vessels to monitor catch composition, handling methods and fishing equipment.

The inspectors have access to the log books that must record details of fishing practices such as location, dates, gear and catch quantity. Vessels that process the catch at sea must fill the log books electronically and send directly to the Directorate of Fisheries and therefore the Directorate has real time information on the major fisheries in Icelandic waters. All this information on catches, quota share, quota status and transfer of quota between vessels is available at once to the public on the web site of the Directorate.

Furthermore, buyers of the catch (usually the processors) have to register and send the Directorate information on the value and amounts bought and the disposition of the catch. It is vital for effective management of the fish stocks that the catch amount and composition is well known. In addition to all the measures described above this registration system in effect provides double checking of the catches.

In collaboration with the Marine Research Institute, fishing areas may be closed temporarily, for example due to abundance of under-sized fish or juveniles. Land based inspectors also monitor gear and check catch composition and they participate in work for the Marine Research Institute by sampling fish on board vessels and from landings.

Under a bilateral agreement between Iceland and the European Union (EU), Icelandic inspectors are required on board all EU fishing vessels in Icelandic waters and furthermore, co-operation under the auspices of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) requires that Icelandic inspectors supervise catches on board 25% of Icelandic vessels in other fisheries supervised by NAFO.

Editor