Six years of collaboration between the Japan Consumers' Co-op Union and WWF: Behind the Scenes of Indonesia's Certification (Part 2)
2025
Norway is a Nordic country with a long coastline made up of countless islands, reefs, bays, and fjords in the frigid ocean. Blessed with a natural environment in which the warm waters of the Gulf Stream flow into the cold waters of the Arctic Circle along its coastline, Norway is a country with thriving fishing and aquaculture industries.
Norway once came close to depleting its fisheries resources due to overfishing. However, a change in fishing policy in the 1970s led to successful recovery of resources. Today, the country prioritizes the sustainability of resources while achieving a highly profitable fishing industry. What is behind this success story? We spoke with Johan Qualheim, Director for Japan and Korea at the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), about Norway's sustainable fisheries industry, which continues to implement strict resource management today.
-- First of all, why did Norway decide to pursue resource management?
Many different people have come to fish in the waters off Norway since ancient times, and regulations to balance their interests have been in place since the 19th century. However, Norwegians were not allowed to go out to sea during World War II, and when they resumed fishing in 1945, they fished like crazy.
At the time, the ocean was teeming with fish, and no one imagined they would ever be caught all at once. However, in the 1950s, advances in fishing equipment such as winches for fishing boats (devices for reeling in nets) led to a massive increase in catches, and by the 1960s herring had disappeared from the ocean.
That's when people realized that instead of catching as much as they wanted, they needed regulations to protect the balance of the ecosystem. So the Norwegian government started regulating fishing, including herring catches, in the 1970s. In addition, many coastal countries that established 1977-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in 200 began to take on greater responsibility for resource management.
To make matters worse, after the depletion of herring resources, the catch of capelin increased sharply in the 1970s, and Atlantic cod began to decline in the 1980s. In addition to overfishing by humans, there was also an impact on the food chain, with seals struggling to find food as capelin numbers declined, leading to them eating cod. As a result, the government introduced comprehensive and strict fishing regulations.
Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway's first female prime minister who held the government in the 1980s, was also the person who compiled the UN report "Our Common Future." The concept of sustainable development put forward in the report, "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations," reflected the critical situation of the Norwegian fishing industry at the time.
Having implemented strict fishing regulations to ensure fishery resources for future generations, the government also promoted the individual quota system, which allocates catch quotas to each fishing vessel, as a way of managing sustainable fisheries.
-- Was there any confusion as the government introduced new regulations one after another?
Of course, the fishermen were very against it. They said they didn't need any regulations and wanted to be free men of the sea. They stood on the deck, smoking a cigarette, and complained, "This is terrible. How dare you put us through this." I still remember the image of fishermen I saw on TV when I was a teenager.
--How did you overcome the opposition from fishermen like that?
After the government introduced a fisheries management system that included catch controls, fishing quotas, and fishing gear regulations, fishermen went out again some time later to find that fish had returned to the sea - thanks to the controls.
Fishermen began to think that even though regulations would mean they would lose short-term profits, we were recovering the fish in the ocean, and that we should think long-term, so that we could continue to catch enough fish for future generations to enjoy, and still make a profit...so they accepted the government's policies.
I think it was a reform that had its ups and downs. Around 1986, the Norwegian government announced a policy to abolish all subsidies to the fishing industry. Fishermen were also strongly opposed at this time. They thought the government was telling them to die.
However, in the early 90s, the government removed the subsidies.
- Why did you decide to abolish the subsidies?
This was to encourage fishermen to become self-reliant. With the discovery of offshore oil fields in the 1960s and a boost to its finances, the Norwegian government had been giving large subsidies to fishermen. However, the subsidies led to increased fishing capacity, which led to overfishing and ultimately to the depletion of resources. Researchers who pointed this out led to a change in the government's policy.
In addition, for the Norwegian fishing industry, which exports 90% of its seafood production, the move also corresponds to the abolition of subsidies required by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the European Economic Fisheries Area (ETT) agreements. Large amounts of subsidies were also invested in the fishing industry reform, but now that structural reform is complete, the government has said, "From now on, you will have to make your own profits."
And today, Norway's fishing industry is highly profitable. Without any help from the state, our fishermen have managed the fishery well by reducing the size of boats and the size of their fleets - this is possible because of quotas set for each vessel.
- What does this mean?
First of all, because a catch quota is allocated to each fishing vessel, fishermen have an incentive to calculate the profits they can earn and can decide for themselves whether or not to continue fishing.
- Why are you reducing the number of ships?
This is to reduce fishing capacity to an appropriate level. In Norway, fishing quotas and fishing vessels are paired, and a vessel's quota can be sold to another fisherman only if the vessel is to be scrapped. This reduces the number of vessels by one, and the fisherman who buys the quota can catch two vessels' worth of fishing quotas with his own vessel, increasing efficiency. This is a system that allows the reduction of fishing vessels without having to buy them up with public funds.
-- It's a system in which only profitable fishermen remain in the industry.
Yes, today fishermen support the fisheries management system and adhere to the individual quota system because they know they can make a good profit if they follow the rules.
-- I heard that fishing is now a popular occupation among the younger generation. Is that true?
Yes. The problem is that older fishermen are reluctant to retire because it's so profitable. The country also reserves fishing quotas for new entrants. Almost every week there are articles in the Norwegian fishing press about young people who have bought their own boats and gone out fishing.
-- The revised Fisheries Law has just come into force in Japan, and reforms have just begun. What do you think is necessary to make the reforms in the fishing industry a success?
I understand that there are cultural differences between Norway and Japan, as well as social and historical contexts.
The Norwegian experience is that, working closely with scientists,Total Allowable Catch (TAC)The goal is to establish a catch limit and set a catch limit.
The TAC has encouraged Norwegian fishermen to plan their fishing. If coastal countries set their own TACs based on scientific research and then use that to determine fishing quotas for each country, Norwegian fishermen will know the share of their boats. They can also obtain bank loans using their boats as collateral based on the fishing quotas.
-- A scientific approach is important.
This is currently underway in Japan as well. The difference between Japan and Norway is that 90% of our fishing industry is conducted in cooperation with other coastal countries. Cod, mackerel, herring and other fish do not belong to Norway alone, but are shared with Iceland and other EU coastal countries. That's why resource assessments by organisations independent of the interests of any particular country, such as scientists from ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea), are so important.
-- The coastal countries have yet to reach an agreement on the fishing quotas for Atlantic mackerel. What do you think the future of the negotiations will be?
It got tricky last year because no country could agree. The ICES scientists say Atlantic mackerel is sustainable, and there is a TAC for the whole of Atlantic mackerel, so we had to explain to the fishers what Norway's share would be. Other countries might say that 35% of the TAC means Norway is overfishing. We've had heated discussions before.
But we need to come to the negotiating table. Historically, we have always found agreements, so the situation around Sabah will not last long. I think we can find an agreement again, within the same TAC, for the benefit of the coastal states.
--How do the sustainable seafood markets differ between Japan and Norway?
It is difficult for consumers to tell whether something is sustainable or not. In a 30-minute shopping trip, hundreds of decisions are made, so consumers want stores to stock sustainable products in advance. And fish buyers should also feel the pressure of such expectations and fulfill their responsibilities.
When I was working in the UK and a store had some obviously unsustainable fish on display, I asked the retailer, "Why are you stocking fish that you yourself say is unsustainable?"
He can't put the fish back in the ocean, so he has to sell them. But he can decide for himself whether he wants to buy sustainable products or not. He should act responsibly. Customers can't tell the difference.
- So if seafood is sold in retail stores in Norway, it can be considered sustainable?
A view of Bergen, a city on Norway's west coast (Photo courtesy of the Norwegian Seafood Council)
Consumers expect this, and if retailers don't do this, they risk damaging their brand image, or NGOs will come and say, "What are you doing?"
Johan Qualheim
Born in Molloy, Norway in 1971. He obtained a Master's degree in Fisheries Science from The Norwegian College of Fishery Science in Norway and an MBA in International Business from ENPC in Paris. In addition to working for a major Norwegian seafood company, he has held various positions in the Norwegian and global seafood industry, including being in charge of the UK and French markets at the Norwegian Seafood Council's Paris office from 2007 to 2013, and managing director of the North Atlantic Seafood Forum, one of the world's largest seafood business conferences, from 2019 to 2020. He has been in his current position since December 2020.
Interviewed and written by: Chiho Iuchi
After working for the Japan Finance Corporation for Small and Medium Enterprises (now the Japan Finance Corporation) and the English newspaper The Japan Times, he became a freelancer in 2016. He was a lecturer in the English Newspaper Production Planning course at Hosei University from 2016 to 2019. He writes articles mainly about culture and technology in both English and Japanese.
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Key terms and concepts to understand seafood sustainability.
