Calls for Norwegian Minister of Fisheries to Resign over Fish Farms

The Norwegian media is continuing to focus attention on the sea lice problem and the Fisheries Minister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen is under intense scrutiny.
 
Norway's daily financial newspaper Dagens Naringsliv features a commentary today including:
 
"....lice have crawled up the political agenda and up the inside of the trouser leg of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg"
 
The article - titled "On the Inside: Lice Running -  Lisbeth Berg-Hansen's most urgent challenge is to clean up an industry she comes from" - argues that the Fisheries Minister is well-placed to tackle the industry's problems since she knows the industry well (as a co-owner of a salmon farming company and former head of the Norwegian salmon farmers association):
 
"På innsiden: Lusekjøringen - Lisbeth Berg-Hansens mest akutte utfordring er å rydde opp i en næring hun selv kommer fra" (Dagens Naringsliv, 13th January): http://www.dn.no/forsiden/kommentarer/article1816517.ece
 
 
Dagbladet reported yesterday in the article "Berg-Hansen must explain herself" that the Norwegian Parliament had sent a letter to the Fisheries Minister asking for clarification on a number of issues involving her ownership in a salmon farming company and her competence/impartiality as a Minister.  The newspaper described the issue as "very serious" and featured a section on "the noise surrounding the Fisheries Minister":
 
"Berg-Hansen må forklare seg - Stortinget sender brev til fiskeriministeren i dag" (Dagbladet, 12th January): http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/01/12/nyheter/lisbeth_berg-hansen/politikk/fiskeridirektoratet/innenriks/9890838/
 
 
The Norwegian press agencies ANB and NTB reported yesterday under the headline "Berg-Hansen's impartiality must be clarified quickly" that:
 
"The Minister of Fisheries can not wait to disclose their conflicts of interest in the fee issue to the administration have concluded, according to the Conservative Party Per-Kristian Foss":
 
"Berg-Hansens habilitet må avklares raskt - Fiskeriministeren kan ikke vente med å avklare sin habilitet i gebyrsaken til forvaltningen har konkludert, mener Høyres Per-Kristian Foss" (ANB/NTB, 12th January): http://www.an.no/nyheter/article4802364.ece
 
 
A poll in Dagbladet asked last week (8th January): "Should Fisheries Minister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen resign?" - 84% said yes.
 
 "Bør Fiskeriminister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen gå av?": http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/01/08/nyheter/miljo/fiskeridepartementet/fiskeridirektoratet/fiskeriministeren/9832111/
 
 
[English translations via Google Translate: www.translate.google.com]
 
 
Meanwhile, the Norwegian Salmon Association issued this week a press release (in English, Norwegian, Dutch, German and Spanish) headed: "Wild salmon and sea trout alert - Sport fishers need to act now!".
 
The media release included:
  
"The world known history and tradition of salmon and sea trout fishing in Norway, can soon become just a memory as wild salmon and sea trout are near extinction! A long the coastline of Norway there are 350 million farmed salmon in the cages, the problems caused by this mass, will soon extinguish the 400.000 – 600.000 wild Atlantic salmon searching their parental rivers each year. The way we best can oppose this catastrophe, is simply by not buying and eating farmed salmon!
 
Norwegian salmon farming companies are the biggest and represented in other countries. The start of the business was in Norway and you find very high activity on the coastline. Norwegian governmental officials have promoted this business abroad, and salmon farms are established at more locations. The big problems now showing in Norway are also problems in other countries, perhaps in a smaller, but escalating scale.
The Norwegian Government has lacked the will of empowering stricter business frames for the salmon farming. The economy of the business has overshadowed every other consideration. Today it’s justified to say that Norway is not managing the farmed salmon industry, but the extinction of wild salmon and sea trout!"
"Wild salmon and sea trout alert - Sport fishers need to act now!" (Norwegian Salmon Association, 12th January): http://norwegian-salmon.com/salmon/extended-en.php?recID=269