Faroes signs new Arctic fish protection agreement
Fish Update: 17 June, 2013 The Faroe Islands has signed a new agreement to protect Arctic fishing and marine life and to prevent oil pollution.The Faroese Prime Minister Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen was a co-signatory to the deal with the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Villy Søvndal, Prime Minister Johannesen, who both drew attention to the importance for the Faroe Islands of having a direct and active role in all aspects of cooperation and negotiations in the Arctic Council.
In addition to signing the new agreement on marine oil pollution, the Faroe Islands are also co-signatory to the Arctic Search and Rescue cooperation agreement reached two years ago.
Prime Minister Johannesen said at the signing: “We need to seize all opportunities to safeguard the seas and oceans around us and to develop their huge potential as a source of food, energy and transport in a sustainable way.
"We need to get the balance right between the biological limits of nature, our rights and duties as people in the circumpolar North to use our natural resources sustainably, and the need to create wealth and economic development. Getting this balance right will make us much better prepared to cope with sudden and even dramatic changes.”
The Faroe Islands plays an active role in regional cooperation in a range of areas, both as a part of the Nordic family of nations, through cooperation in the West Nordic region and across the North Atlantic. The Faroe Islands have been active participants in the Arctic Council together with Greenland and Denmark since the late 1990’s and also took part in the environmental cooperation (AEPS) prior to the establishment of the Arctic Council.
In 2012 the Government of the Faroe Islands commissioned a strategic assessment to provide a deeper and broader understanding of the challenges and potential of the Faroe Islands in the years to come as a fishing nation in the Arctic. The task was to examine in more detail how the Faroe Islands can best adapt to changing circumstances and benefit from new opportunities.
