EMEA News
Norway Supreme Court: EU ships Cannot Fish Arctic Snow Crab
A push by European Union fishing companies to fish for snow crab in the waters of non-EU Norway's Svalbard Islands has been stopped by the Norwegian Supreme Court.
Latvian fishery company SIA North Star brought the case saying that it should have a licence to fish in the waters as Norwegian companies can. The case hinged on a 1920 treaty that guaranteed Norway sovereignty but gave other signattories access, Reuters reports.
But the supreme court said in its verdict that "the company does not have the right to catch snow crab on the continental shelf outside Svalbard".
In 2019, the court ruled that what was valid for the snow crab was also valid for oil, gas and other minerals that lie off the Svalbard archipelago.
While legal recourse for private companies has run its course, a state could take up the issue at an international level at a later date, the report said.
