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– We’re not surprised they find illegal lobster. But that they choose to sell the lobsters is absurd. It is completely incomprehensible to normal people, says the head of the Norwegian Environmental Protection Association, Kurt Oddekalv.
The lobster has its origin in seizures made by the police. A Grimstad commercial fisherman is charged with illegal lobster fishing. The fisherman is said to have had several hundred illegal vessels.
Some 180 kilos of lobster have been delivered to a fishmonger.
– When they choose to sell the catch, this case becomes totally ridiculous. I think everything is reprehensible. That is why we have reported to the Agder police. We think they need to know what they are doing for something, says Oddekalv.
Kurt Oddekalv from the Norwegian Association for Environmental Protection is particularly critical of the fact that the police sold more seized lobsters.
Photo: SIMON S. BRANDSETH / NRK
It would take into account claims for compensation
The Norwegian Association for Environmental Protection has reported the Agder police to the Attorney General. The Special Unit for Police Affairs will handle the case. For example, they don’t have it on the table.
The Agder Police District informs NRK that they will not comment on the case at this time.
But in an earlier interview, Agder Police District Environmental Coordinator Torvild Selvås explained why the lobster was still on a fish counter.
– We had to take into account a possible compensation claim from the fisherman if we were to release them again, he said.
The assessment of what to do with the lobster that was sold was carried out together with the Coast Guard and the Directorate of Fisheries.
– The lobster should have been released again in several places, and the crab bones should have been removed from warts. For a seized snowshoe species to be sold is totally reprehensible and shameful, says Oddekalv.
Atle Nilsen is a member of Fiskarlaget Arendal.
Photograph: Madeleine Mellemstrand / NRK
He already sold more than 100 kilos
Receive the support of Fiskarlaget Arendal.
– It is very good that we cover this case properly. If it turns out that the lobster is fishing illegally, I find it particularly inferior that they sell the catch, says leader Atle Nilsen.
– The regulations are clear. If the fish is illegal, it should be released into the sea as long as it is not dead or dying, says Nilsen.
It was the Reinhartsen fish shop in Kristiansand that received the seized lobster. They estimate that they have caught around 300 lobsters, or around 180 kilos.
So far they have sold just over 100 kilos. At the moment, the money will be deposited into a blocked account. In total, it will probably exceed 150,000 crowns when everything is sold.
If it is concluded that the accused fisherman in Grimstad has done nothing wrong, the money will go to him.
But if you are found guilty of illegal fishing, the money will go to the Fiskehav Fish Sales Association, which carries out control activities.
Reidar Fredriksen at the Reinhartsen Fish Market in Kristiansand poses with two of the lobsters that have been seized by the police.
Photo: Geir Ingar Egeland / NRK
