Herring battle to demarcate a minister

© Wiktor Nummelin / TT
Rural Affairs Minister Anna Karen Sutherberg is on her way to attend a meeting of agriculture and fisheries ministers in Brussels on Monday.

The North Sea herring is on the list when the new Minister of Rural Affairs holds his first meeting on fisheries in the European Union.

The usual nightmare is to be expected.

The EU’s agriculture and fisheries ministers gathered Sunday morning to begin their December meeting in Brussels.

Above all, it is about agreeing on next year’s catch in the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

“I hope we have the flexibility we want, so we can save herring in the Western Baltic, where the stock needs to be improved, and we can fish North Sea herring in the North Sea instead,” says New Rural Affairs Minister Anna Karen Sutherberg (South ) en route to continuing discussions on Monday.

Sweden, Germany and Denmark have agreed to deep cuts in Skagerrak so that shares can recover. But more Swedish fishing is needed in the North Sea instead. At the same time, settlement is required not only in the EU circle, but also with neighbors in the UK and Norway.

So the negotiations will likely take time – and risk ending up in temporary quotas to be determined only, for the first three months of 2022.

– We’re not there yet, but if there are temporary quotas, I hope it will be a quick fix after that, says Sätherberg in Brussels.