| Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
From: [email protected] (Jan Bohn)
Subject: Re: Mine's further north than yours...
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1992 23:50:43 GMT
A Norwegian expedition landed on Bouvet Island in the late 1980's and
believed they were the first humans to wander about this rock in the
South Atlantic (they also discovered that the island was 3km away from
where it was thought to be). They were wrong [about being the first
humans to wander the island]! According to a recent survey of
immigrants to the USA, five (5) Norwegians citizens born on the Bouvet
Island have gained immigrant status to the USA. (Very few people are
born on Bouvet Island, and with the US immigration system of quotas
based on birth-place, these Bouvetians received top priority.)
-Jan Helge Bohn
[email protected]
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| From: [email protected] (Jon Kaare Hellan)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Subject: Re: Norwegian/Icelandic fishing dispute
Date: 23 Aug 1994 13:05:13 GMT
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology, University of Trondheim
There seems to be some confusion regarding the Svalbard fish protection
zone. I'll try to add my bit to the confusion :-).
It is correct that there are two different areas, the loophole and the
fish protection zone, where different legal regimes apply.
Everybody agrees that the loophole is international waters, and that
the fish protection zone is not.
Norway claims that the 200 mile zone off Svalbard is not subject to the
Svalbard treaty, and claims the right to incorporate these waters in
the regular Norwegian economic zone. Most other nations have not
recognized this claim, but most of those have not rejected it, either.
However, Norway has in practice put this claim on ice, and merely
reserves the right to, in future, include the Svalbard zone in the
regular economic zone. The fish protection zone is *not* part of the
regular Norwegian economic zone. According to the Svalbard treaty,
paragraph 2, Norway does have the right to enact regulations to protect
wildlife and fish stocks, provided these regulations do not
discriminate between signatary countries.
In the fish protection zone, quotas are assigned to various countries
based on historical rights. Historical rights means previous fishing
activities in the area.
The Norwegian authorities consider that a system of quotas based on
historical rights is non-discriminatory.
They also consider that Iceland does not have any such historical
rights.
To show that they indeed have a right to fish in the Svalbard zone,
Iceland will have to:
- Show that the Svalbard treaty applies to the 200 mile zone around
Svalbard.
and either:
- Show that a protection system based on historical rights violates the
treaty.
or:
- Show that Icelandic fishermen do indeed have such historical rights.
Regarding the missing legal basis for charging the icelandic captain
with illegal fishing, this is a matter of Norwegian law: Until two
weeks ago, according to the law which enables the fish protection zone,
permission for fishing was necessary, but breaking the rule carried no
penalty. Penalty clauses have now been added.
Jon K�re
--
Jon K. Hellan [email protected]
Div. of Computer Systems and Telematics Phone: +47 73 59 44 33
Norwegian Institute of Technology Fax: +47 73 59 69 73
Trondheim - Norway
|
| From: [email protected] (Steinn Sigurdsson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Subject: Re: Norwegian/Icelandic fishing dispute
Date: 24 Aug 94 10:38:14
Organization: Lick Observatory/UCO
The reason a few Icelandic fisherman are going off to loopholes and
various areas not covered by treaty is because the Icelandic government
regulates fishing quite strongly, there are strict quotas handed out
according to some byzantine scheme. The fishermen who are struggling
and looking for other grounds are those who either re-capitalised just
as the quotas were cut (the quotas are adjusted annually, and do not
increase monotonically, hence not every year can be as good as the
previous year), or a few who bought bankrupt Canadian ships and are
looking to make a quick buck.
The Icelandic government has limited powers over its citizens, it
cannot arbitrarily dictate to them what they do. It also appears
unwilling to legislate whatever the Norwegians feel like unilaterally
declaring.
| Steinn Sigurdsson |Yfir kaldann ey�isand |
| Lick Observatory |Einn um n�tt �g sveima |
| [email protected] |N� er horfi� Nor�urland |
| "standard disclaimer" |N� � �g hvergi heima |
|