The Ministry denies responsibility: Professor criticizes delayed response to errors in fishing quotas. A professor criticizes the ministry for not correcting errors in fish quota calculations earlier, while the minister denies his responsibility. Two fishing companies, Astrid Fiskeri and Isafold, have for several years been able to catch more fish than the quota ceiling allows due to a miscalculation by authorities. According to calculations from TV2.dk and Danwatch, the companies have had extra quotas worth about 15 million Danish kroner in 2023 due to the error. The Ministry of Fisheries was aware of the error for over a year and a half before steps were taken to correct it and inform the Parliament. Professor of administrative law, Sten Bønsing, calls it “deeply problematic” and believes that the ministry should have acted earlier. He points out that the Minister of Fisheries has a responsibility and is “on the edge of ministerial responsibility” due to his supervisory obligation. Minister of Fisheries Jacob Jensen (V) acknowledges that it took too long to correct the mistake. He stated to TV2.dk and Danwatch that he was only informed about the problem in May 2023 and then ensured that the error was corrected and Parliament was informed in June 2023. “I cannot act on something I do not know about. That is also the crux of the matter here,” says Jacob Jensen. He adds that he should have been informed earlier about the issue and has therefore asked the Fisheries Agency to prepare a report. The agreements on fishing quota ceilings were made by all parties in the Parliament in 2017 to prevent too much concentration of quotas among individual fishermen. Source:

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