29 November, 2008

FISHERMEN will have to wait until the second week of December for more news on North Sea quota allocations after the EU/Norway talks were postponed yesterday (Friday).

The third round of the crunch negotiations on joint management of the North Sea will commence in Oslo on Monday, 8 December.

Scottish Fishermen's Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong said there had been much willingness to reach agreement, but discards remained the one sticking point remained.

Norwegian legislation allows no discards, while the EU is trying to reduce the amount of fish dumped overboard.

The decision on final quota allocations for shared stocks has also been deferred to the
third round.

"Much progress seems to have been made and there is willingness on both sides to reach agreement, but the process is complicated and this has led to the decision to go for a third round of talks," Mr Armstrong said.