Norway Supreme Court hears #snow_crab case with implication for #oil | Reuters
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-eu-snowcrab-idUSKCN1P9003
A view shows a beach at the Ny-Aalesund research station on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, September 20, 2016.
Picture taken September 20, 2016.
REUTERS/Gwladys Fouche/File Photo
Norway’s Supreme Court began hearing arguments on Tuesday on whether EU ships can fish for snow crab off Arctic islands north of Norway without permission from Oslo, a case that could decide who has the right to explore for oil in the region.
At stake is whether the snow crab - whose meat is considered a delicacy by gourmets in Japan and South Korea - is a sedentary species living on the seabed or a fish stock that moves around - and who gets to decide about it.
If it is seen as a sedentary species, then it is a resource belonging to the #continental_shelf of Norway. If the EU can stake a claim over the snow crab, then it could be harder for Oslo to secure its claim over potential oil and gas resources.
“The question of the snow crab is a proxy for oil. Because what is valid for the snow crab is valid for the oil industry,” Oeystein Jensen, a senior research fellow in law at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo, told Reuters
#crabe_des_neiges #plateau_continental
#forage_pétrolier #offshore