This concern has deep roots in our history. The Cod Wars with Britain were fought precisely over the principle that we control access to our own waters. It's natural to ask whether EU membership would change that.
The short answer is no — and the reason is straightforward.
Quotas are allocated to states, not to vessels
The Common Fisheries Policy allocates quotas to member states based on historical catch records in each stock (the "relative stability" principle). Each state then decides for itself how to distribute its quota domestically. Spain can't send trawlers into French waters just because both countries are in the EU — France manages its own zone and allocates its quota to French vessels.
This matters for Iceland for one simple reason: no EU member state has a historical catch record in demersal stocks in Icelandic waters. No quota for cod, haddock, or redfish would go to any other country, because no one has a claim to it.
What about "equal access to waters"?
There is a historical principle in the CFP called "equal access" (equal access to waters) which in theory allows vessels from EU member states to fish in other member states' waters beyond 12 nautical miles. In practice, however, this matters little when no other EU state holds quota in the stocks in question — and that applies to virtually all demersal stocks in Icelandic waters.
Coastal states have exclusive control over their waters out to 12 nautical miles, and the broader zone is managed through the quota system. Where no quota is held by other states, the equal access principle has no practical effect.
Quota swaps and access arrangements
Member states can in certain cases swap quotas or negotiate mutual access to each other's waters. This is always a voluntary choice, never an obligation. We'd need to be alert to pressure for such arrangements during accession negotiations, but nothing in the CFP would force us to open our waters to foreign fleets.
In short: Foreign trawlers would not automatically get to fish in our waters. The EU quota system is based on historical catch records, which are entirely in our hands for Icelandic waters. The equal access principle has no practical effect where no other country holds quota. We'd continue to decide who fishes in our waters.
Sources and further reading:
- EU Regulation 1380/2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy, in particular Art. 5 (access to waters), Art. 16 (quota allocation) and Art. 17 (criteria for domestic allocation).
- European Commission: CFP — Access to Waters (information on the equal access principle and how it operates in practice).
- Institute of International Affairs, University of Iceland: Review of Iceland's EU Accession Negotiations (2014). Chapter 6 covers fisheries in detail, including access by foreign vessels.
- European Parliament: Rights-Based Fisheries Management in Iceland (2012). Study on Iceland's ITQ system and its position within the EU framework.
- Act on Fisheries Management No. 116/2006 — the legal basis for Iceland's quota system and domestic allocation of fishing rights.
- European Commission: Northern Agreements — overview of multilateral Coastal States agreements on shared pelagic stocks.
- European Commission: TACs and quotas — plain-language explanation of how the quota system works and confirmation that allocation is based on a fixed percentage per country.