The Nordic Region's waters are huge – many times larger than its areas of dry land. The living marine resources found here are of vital economic importance for the Nordic countries. The Nordic seas are large-scale suppliers to the EU of fish and fish products of the highest quality.

These marine resources also have major social importance, especially in the West Nordic Region. Fisheries and fish production make the single most significant economic contribution to the welfare of the societies in Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

Diversity is a source of strength

The four fishing nations in the west – Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway – have each developed their own systems for managing the fisheries industry. Similarly, the systems of the EU members in the east – Finland, Sweden and Denmark – retain distinctive national characteristics within the framework of the EU's common fisheries policy.

The Nordic Region's systems for managing the fisheries industry are therefore characterised by a diversity that is found nowhere else in the world. This is a source of strength, as it provides the administrations with the unique opportunity to learn from each other's innovations.

It is no coincidence that the Nordic countries regularly come out on top in international evaluations of fisheries-management systems.

Nordic Co-operation

The core aim of Nordic co-operation on fisheries is to help to develop sustainable utilisation of the Region's living marine resources.

This is done through entering into dialogue on important issues in sustainable utilisation, and by running projects, publishing reports and pursuing other activities that offer insight into national and international approaches to fisheries policy.

Fisheries co-operation effectively acts as a political workshop in which the aim is that everybody with an interest in marine resources can benefit from the work of the co-operation.

The co-operation plays an active role in developing different aspects of fisheries-industry management. We have worked on the Nordic fisheries' productivity and economic situation and published a report on resource yield.

In collaboration with the fisheries department of the UN's FAO we have looked at the development of labelling schemes for sustainable fisheries, and we have also published scientific reports on the subject.

We have looked at the political and technical prerequisites for land-based aquaculture, especially in the Baltic Sea Region, and we have focused on the seal debate in the EU.

We have also been involved in other topical issues, such as illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, eco-system strategies and the development of coastal communities.

Results

The political impact of this work is evident from the Nordic influence upon national administrative processes and political debates. In addition, the Nordic fisheries ministers issue declarations at their meetings that express Nordic attitudes to current fisheries policy questions.

Co-operation on fisheries involves many different stakeholders with an interest in the seas' living resources – particularly worth mentioning are the Nordic research environments, Nordic fisheries industry organisations, NGOs and international organisations that work with our marine areas.

The fisheries co-operation has therefore built up a network of Nordic citizens who work in these organisations' secretariats.

International focus

There is an increased international political focus on the seas and their vast resources. Several sectors have major potential economic interests in both the sea and the seabed.

Conflicts of interest regarding the use of these resources have already arisen in certain areas – e.g. in the North Sea, where there is a great deal of activity.

The Nordic countries have enormous marine areas at their disposal, and it is in their common interest to make sure that economic development based on marine resources is pursued in a sustainable manner.

New technological developments have made it easier and more efficient to reap the benefits of eco-systems and to extract various other marine resources. This means that it is more important than ever to gain an overview of human activity in the seas, and to develop suitable systems of administration in order to face new challenges.

Nordic fisheries co-operation is a natural and important part of this development, as the national administrations have many years' experience of managing marine areas.