Oslo: Norway is likely to halt European Union (EU) and British fishing vessels in its waters from next month as negotiations on North Sea stocks have been held up over the Brexit stadoff.
Norway is not part of the EU but is part of the European single market. Oslo had negotiated annually with the bloc on managing common fish stocks, accessing to each other’s waters and exchanging fish quotas.
These agreements will be invalid once Britain from the EU. Britain is out of the EU on December 31.
Norway and Britain had in September agreed to a “framework” on which their relations on fisheries will be based.
Oslo wants a trilateral deal in place on the management of fish that swim between the waters of the EU, UK and Norway in the North Sea but the dialogue hasn’t started yet.
“If there is no deal by 1 January, we won’t open Norway’s fishing zones to vessels from UK and EU,” Norway’s fisheries minister Ingebrigtsen told parliament.
“Neither can we expect Norwegian vessels to get access to their zones before a deal.”
“Norway is ready for talks to decide on total quotas for common stocks in the North Sea. We wish to continue as normal, but we will need clarity, and quickly,” Ingebrigtsen said in a note.