The people behind the fish
Reception address, Brussels, 22 April 2008
Mr Tórbjørn Jacobsen, Minister of Fisheries and Natural Resources
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is with great pride and pleasure that I join you all here this evening for this special event to experience and enjoy a “Taste of the Faroes”.
I would like to begin by thanking the organisers and sponsors, Samvit - Faroe Islands Enterprise - and Eik Banki for providing us with this occasion to celebrate some of the very best of Faroese cuisine, art and music. And also – of course - to get together to make new contacts and revitalise old ones. This is what the European Seafood Exposition, and other such industry events, are all about.
Fish is all about people. This is so obvious that it may sound like just another cliché. But it is my impression that the people behind the fish – the fishermen, the production workers, the researchers, and the communities and cultures that generate and nurture them – are too often taken for granted in today’s hyper-competitive, global food market.
Just yesterday morning at the Faroese Fisheries Laboratory in Tórshavn, I had the honour of opening a meeting of fisheries researchers and technical experts from all over the world, hosted by our own experts. The ICES /FAO Working Group on Fishing Technology and Fish Behaviour is holding its annual meeting this week in the Faroes. This is a group of scientific experts who have been working for many years on all aspects of fishing gear development.
When they first began their cooperation many years ago, the focus of this group was on developing methods to get as much fish out of the sea as possible. Enhancing fishing efficiency is still their major focus today – but our definition of fishing efficiency has changed radically over the years. Today we know that we must ensure efficiency within limits, and these limits must be sustainable. This means developing fishing gear that minimises unwanted by-catch and destructive impacts on marine ecosystems. With the cost of oil sky-rocketing and our global commitment to reduce the climate footprint, one of our biggest challenges today is to find ways to increase fuel efficiency in the fishing fleet.
The innovation and hard work of these dedicated fisheries experts doesn’t often make the headlines. But they are working away, quietly and steadily – in close cooperation with the fishermen themselves and the gear producers - to confront today’s challenges head on, and to find new ways of getting more for less of our valuable fisheries resources.
This week in the Faroes the focus is on gear; two weeks ago it was on Gore - former US vice president Al Gore, who was the keynote speaker at the Trans Atlantic Climate Conference in Tórshavn. Key actors in the Faroese private sector, including the House of Industry that represents Faroese fish producers, took the initiative to organise this major event, which has put the climate and marine environment firmly on the political radar in the Faroes. We hope that follow-up plans for an international Trans Atlantic Climate Institute based in the Faroes will also put the Faroes more clearly on the political and research radar internationally, where we most definitely deserve to be.
The Faroes are in the middle of the North Atlantic ocean, where the warm waters of the Gulf stream meet the cold waters of the Arctic, giving the great global ocean conveyor belt its mighty energy. In the middle of this powerhouse of ocean currents, the Faroes are more vulnerable than most nations today to sudden and dramatic changes in climate. Even the slightest shift in ocean dynamics can have enormous impacts on the marine resources we so much depend on.
While we try to find the best ways to respond to climate change and reduce human impacts on the environment, we must also remember that we are in the business of primary food production. As a fish exporting country, the Faroes contribute to global food security, providing high quality, protein-rich food for many more mouths than our own small population of 48,000 people can possibly consume by themselves. The fishing industry needs to deal with energy efficiency and reduce its own impacts on the environment, but we also need to keep our focus on the bigger picture. The climate costs of producing one kilo of fish are far less than the production of one kilo of farmed meat, not to mention a Big Mac. Of course we hope this reality will help people to choose fish more often when it comes to buying food, but it will also put extra pressure on fisheries resources in the future as a sustainable source of food. This makes it more important than ever to have effective and responsible fisheries management in place.
For us in the Faroes, ensuring sustainable fisheries is much more than a major responsibility – it is an absolute necessity. It is what makes us who and what we are - the sea is our very lifeblood.
It therefore goes without saying that people are at the very core of fisheries management in the Faroes. According to Faroese fisheries legislation, marine resources in Faroese waters and those to which we have rights through bilateral and international agreements, are the property of the Faroese people.
In Faroese waters, the management of the valuable Faroese stocks of cod, haddock, saithe and many other species, is based on the regulation of fishing effort – or fishing days. This system was intended to be ecologically and economically self-regulating. Fundamental to the system is also the regulation of fishing gear and fishing areas. On the whole, it has been an effective form of fisheries management, which many other countries have looked to for inspiration, including fisheries nations and communities struggling under the stranglehold of the EU Common Fisheries Policy. The Faroese system defines and allocates fisheries by vessel and gear types, it strictly regulates mesh-sizes and protects areas of vital importance for spawning stocks and immature fish. Under this system all fish caught has a value, and fishermen have no economic incentive to discard catches.
But the work of fisheries managers – and fisheries ministers like myself - is never finished, and never perfect. The goalposts are constantly moving while the game goes on, and we have to work hard to keep our eye on the ball. Our main challenge today is to address the technological creep that has taken place in the Faroese fleet over the past 10 years. A thorough assessment of the whole system is now underway. I have appointed a special committee of scientific and industry experts who are working together to take stock of how the system has worked since it first came into force in 1996. In particular they are comparing today’s fishing capacity with what marine biologists advise can be sustained by different fish stocks.
Once we have an up-to-date picture of the present state of play, I will be giving top priority to achieving a broad political and public consensus on how best to adjust the system to make sure that we can continue to benefit from it – present and future generations alike. Fisheries are, after all, vital to our entire nation. The people of the Faroe Islands are the shareholders and custodians of our marine resources – and it is the people of the Faroe Islands who give these resources their value, both for ourselves and for our markets.
The fundamental elements, structure and thinking behind Faroese fisheries management and policies today are described in a new information brochure in English – Faroe Islands Fisheries and Aquaculture – Responsible Fisheries for a Sustainable Future. I hope you all have a chance to pick up a copy. It is not by accident that there is a fisherman on the front cover, and pictures of people on nearly every page.
There are other important people behind the fish – and these of course include the consumers in our major markets. Most Faroese fish products today are not just sold and consumed here in the European Union, but they are also in high demand on European markets for their quality. Hand-in-hand with demand for supply and quality comes an increasing demand from retailers and consumers for proof of sustainability.
In this regard information is crucial - reliable and comprehensive information about where fish products come from and how they got there, not just black lists telling consumers “what not to buy”. All too often we are seeing that such over-simplified information is being supplied to the media and retailers by self-appointed middlemen, through market-based labelling schemes that don’t always tell the whole story – they focus on the how and the where, but don’t tell you much about the who – the people, communities and human values behind the products. “Value-added” means much more than Euros, dollars or kroner, it also means the integrity of hard work and a sense of solidarity and pride in one’s community.
Ladies and Gentlemen, for the Faroes as a fisheries nation our most valuable resources are not our marine resources, they are our human resources. Our vision and our challenge as a small island nation is to embrace the ambition and creativity of our people and provide them with the right conditions to be productive and enjoy a high quality of life.
Because of our small size, the innovation and diversity of both the Faroese business sector and Faroese culture today never fails to surprise others. To be honest, it often surprises us ourselves. Size is certainly not an obstacle for the Faroese, and the many talented people forging new paths in business and in cultural life are proof of this.
This talent and variety are well represented here tonight. The gourmet chef, Leivur Sørensen, has re-introduced today’s generation of Faroe Islanders to their own fantastic natural produce with his culinary talents. He has well and truly shown us that fish from the Faroes deserves much more respect than a simple side serving of boiled potatoes. The artists Zacharis Heinesen and Heðin Kambsdal, whose works are on display here, are two of many accomplished Faroese painters today, highly sought after by international collectors, and inspired by the unique and ever-changing light and mood of the Faroese landscape. And singer-songwriter Lena Andersen, performing here for us tonight together with co-writer and musical cohort, Niclas Johannesen, are top class ambassadors of an exciting new generation of Faroese musical talent, making a name for themselves on the international music scene. In case of you didn’t know it already, there’s a lot more to the Faroes than fish and football.
With these words I wish you welcome to enjoy this combined taste of the Faroes. Before I end I would just like to say that it has become something of a political “sound byte” in the Faroes today to talk about using Faroese culture to promote the export of Faroese fish. And this is of course some of the philosophy behind the reception here tonight. But as former Faroese Minister of Culture, I also strongly believe that Faroese fish and fisheries are just as important for the promotion of Faroese culture. Getting to know the people behind the fish is your best investment.
Væl gagnist!