Norwegians have known for years that seismic surveys compromise fisheries. Some of the benchmark studies confirming this have come from Norwegian scientists.[1]
While US fisheries interests have not been able to get much traction on this issue (for a host of reasons) it seems that in Norway they can call the police.
An Aftenpost Norway article sent to us by WWF’s Dave Aplin details the conflict.
In a meeting between fishermen and the oil and energy minister this week, the fishermen said that “The seismic vessels aren’t paying any consideration to the fishing vessels…they’re acting like “cowboys” on the fishing fields.”
I don’t know about you, but I find the cowboy metaphor pretty juicy here.
[1] Arill Engås, Svein Løkkeborg, Egil Ona, and Aud Vold Soldal “Effects of seismic shooting on local abundance and catch rates of cod (Gadus morhua) and haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus)” 1996 Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 53: 2238-2249