Catching of snow crab in the Loophole was punishable
Supreme Court judgment of 29 November 2017, HR-2017-2257-A, (case no. 2017/1570), criminal case, appeal against judgment.
I. A (Counsel Per S. Johannessen) v. The public prosecution authority (Senior public prosecutor Lars Fause)
II. Arctic Fishing (Counsel Oddbjørn Slinning) v. The public prosecution authority (Senior public prosecutor Lars Fause)
Justices: Falch, Bull, Indreberg, Webster, Øie
A Lithuanian vessel had been catching snow crab on the Norwegian continental shelf in the Loophole, without a Norwegian permit. The Supreme Court concluded, like the Court of Appeal, that the act committed was punishable under the penal provision in the Maritime Resources Act section 61, cf. section 16, cf. Regulation on the Prohibition against Catching of Snow Crab section 1. The Norwegian participation in the Convention on Future Multilateral Cooperation in Northeast Atlantic Fisheries (the NEAFC Convention) did not involve consent to a vessel with a Lithuanian permit catching snow crab in the Loophole. The provisions on control measures in the Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission's NEAFC Scheme did also not involve consent. Norway was thus not subject to any obligation under international law to accept catching of snow crab in the Loophole from a Lithuanian vessel without a Norwegian permit, see the Maritime Resources Act section 6.