The fishing sector represents the lifestyle on Greenland, and an indispensable element in the ancient Innit culture. Despite the harsh climatic conditions and vast areas, many residents depend on the sea’s goodness directly or indirectly.
This sector is the main pillar of the national economy, as seafood exports represent more than 90% of Greenland’s total exports, and also provides vital job opportunities for coastal societies scattered on the outskirts of the island.
Despite the richness of the Arctic Water with a variety of fish and crusts, and the efforts made to maintain the sustainability of marine resources, many economic and social challenges are still haunting local fishermen and imposing a harsh and volatile reality.
Fishing journey … beyond the net
Al -Jazeera Net visited the fishermen, Aviaga Gwallson and Jurgen Henrixen, to learn about the details of their practical day on the largest island in the world, and accompanied them on a tour inside a factory to prepare fishing baits, and other stages of preparation that precedes the start of the trip.
“In the early morning, we enter the marine strait. It takes half an hour to an hour, depending on the weather conditions, as the waves may sometimes be high. After that, the fishing process continues about two hours before we return again to the capital,” says Henriksen, 42.
“It is important to wear suitable clothes,” he added.
Fishermen wear special survival allowances that contain substances that help the body to float in the event of falling into water, and they are designed to resist severe cold. Although hunting has always been exclusive to men, women gradually began to engage, especially among the crews working on large ships.
“I love this profession despite its difficulty. Today I know a lot about hunting and I find it easy when I am in the sea, even if it seems difficult for some,” says Aviaga Guilson, 29, who has worked for years in a fish factory.
Strong field difficulties
Fish patterns available in Greenland water change according to ocean temperature and change of water currents, which affects the distribution and migration of their types. This continuous change forces fishermen to constantly adapt and search for new hunting sites.
Henriksen sees the summer to hunt some species, while winter is suitable for other types, such as the thickness of the meatbot, which becomes larger in the cold.
However, it’s not always so easy. Last February, relatively high temperatures broke huge masses of ice inside the Strait of Nok, making sailing almost impossible.
“On a single hunting trip, we may gain about 7,000 Danish kruna (about a thousand dollars), but the weather is not always in our favor.”
The fluctuating weather and floating ice in the north is one of the most prominent challenges that make mobility in the seas dangerous and not guaranteed. Calm may suddenly turn into a snowstorm or strong winds. Climate changes also affect the fishing seasons, as they lead to their default or even cancellation, as it happens with the hunting of the polar Sharb in frozen rivers.
Rich wealth but monitoring
Greenland water abounds with a unique nautical diversity, one of its most prominent types: the northern shrimp (the most exported), the Atlantic cod, the hellows, the Atlantic salmon, the Greenland, the red dignity, and the polar interest.
With this diversity, most fish fisheries are subject to strict control systems, as the government imposes an annual hunting shares, and is obligated to fishermen to obtain licenses. “We will hunt the Cat Fish and the Halbut, but there are governmental restrictions that make it difficult to obtain a license to hunt the Halbut, especially on the older hunters,” says Henrixen.
Along the West Coast, fishermen establish their shipments in more than 40 factories belonging to “Royal Greenland”, where the fish are weighed and pushed to fishermen after a few hours. Most of these charges are later exported to Denmark.
One of the fishermen explains, standing near the company’s warehouses: “We handle fish in the morning, and after 4 or 5 hours we receive our dues. But what we hunt is charged immediately to Europe.”
The company highlights on its website that it has more than 250 years of experience in hunting and manufacturing seafood from the northern Atlantic and Northern Ocean, and it tightens the high quality of its products.
International relations .. between cooperation and monopoly
Since Greenland withdrew from the European Economic Group in 1985, Al -Jazeera has established bilateral relations with the European Union in the field of fish fisheries.
What the agreement states:
- The agreement allows the European Union ships to hunt in Greenland waters in exchange for a financial contribution.
- Greenland’s marine products are allowed to enter the European market exempt from customs duties.
- The agreement is implemented under a modern protocol for the period between 2025 and 2030.
Europe contributes to an annual amount of 17.3 million euros, including:
- 14.1 million euros for fishing rights.
- 3.2 million euros to support the fishing sector locally.
A large percentage of the shares that Europe gets from Greenland are exchanged with Norway, while the rest is devoted to countries such as:
- Germany (for hunting of Halbut, cod, and red fish)
- Denmark
- France (especially for shrimp)
Although the Greenland government is currently reserves the control of the issuance of licenses and the determination of shares, Denmark, as the previous colonial power, is still cooperating with it in some environmental and international files.
“Our hunting is sold at times in Europe.”
But the question remains: Are local fishermen benefit as they should have their painstaking work in this central sector?
Henriksen answers bitterly: “We are not allowed to hunt salmon due to restrictions, and when we hunt the thick thickness of the head, it is sold to Denmark with only 17 kruna, while it is later sold there by about 250 kruna.”
“These are huge sums that we can get to improve our lives. I hope the new government will change this situation soon.”
