COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT

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 Directorate of Fisheries has an extensive mandate. In addition to its responsibilities in the area of fisheries management it is also responsible for enforcement of laws and regulations relating to the handling, processing and distribution of marine products and for collating and publishing data and other information relating to fishing and processing activities.

The Fisheries Management Department 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 and for transmitting this information to the Directorate. 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 transmitted twice a day. 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, calculated for each type of product from each fish species.

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

Inspector from the Directorate of Fisheries checking mesh size

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. 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, Icelandic inspectors are required on board foreign 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 all vessels in the fisheries supervised by NAFO.

Click here for the website of the Directorate of Fisheries