Fisheries stakeholders in Norway are backing their nation’s government in its decision to ban two Russian seafood companies, Norebo and Murman Seafood Company, from entering its waters.
Norway banned the two firms in July for alleged espionage activities, following a similar move made by the E.U. Since then, Iceland has imposed sanctions on the two companies, and the Faroe Islands is debating whether to do the same.
In response to the Norwegian ban, Russian authorities gave the Norwegian government one month from late August to reverse course before they would ban all Norwegian ships from their waters.
“The unfriendly actions of the Norwegian side toward two Russian companies are unprecedented,” Russia’s Federal Fisheries Agency (Rosrybolovstvo) said in a release.
Since 1976, Russia and Norway have co-managed fisheries management in the Barents Sea, cooperated on scientific research, and permitted fishing activities in each other's waters.
The fissure now opened in the longstanding relationship is particularly detrimental to Norebo and Murman, as one in three Russian vessels that have docked at the ports of Tromsø, Båtsfjord, and Berlevåg in Northern Norway so far in 2025 have come from the two firms.
Audun Maråk, the CEO of Fiskebåt, a Norwegian fishers’ representative organization, said he supports the Norwegian government’s decision but hopes that the conflict won't escalate further.
“We support the decisions taken by the government,” he told SeafoodSource. "We, of course, also hope that there will be a solution when it comes to the management of different stocks in the Barents Sea.”
While Norway and Russia share fishing access to the Barents Sea, the vast majority of the sea’s fishery grounds lie in Norwegian waters. In 2023, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK found that 80 percent of Russian quotas in the Barents Sea were fished in Norwegian waters.
Lessening the impact of possible retaliation for Norwegian firms is the fact that very few Norwegian ships fish their quota in Russia’s exclusive economic zone, according to Maråk.
"The activity of Norwegian ships in the Russian zone has, in many years, been very limited and has even gradually decreased," he said.
Maråk said that his association has told members not to enter Russian waters at all until matters between the two countries have settled to prevent fishing vessels from being apprehended by Russian authorities.
"It has sometimes happened that Norwegian vessels have been taken [by Russian authorities] without knowing why," he said. "The regulations are not always available or explained."
The growing tension between the two countries coincides with a decline in cod populations in the area.
On 1 July, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, or Havforskningsinstituttet, recommended reducing cod quotas in 2026 by 21 percent, as stocks have steadily declined over the last decade. If the advice is followed, next year’s quota would be the lowest since 1991.
The tension also has some stakeholders worried that the lack of cooperation will drive stocks into further decline, with the latter country already proposing fishing a higher quota than suggested by the scientific working group.
"In addition, fishing and distribution of catch quotas in the open waters of the Barents and Norwegian seas will be conducted based on Russian national interests," Rosrybolovstvo Head Ilya Shestakov said.
Maråk, for his part, said he doesn't think that Russian authorities will actually carry out this threat.
"If they start fishing in international waters outside our cooperation, they open the door for others to do the same," he said.
