Norway's Økokrim Raids Multiple Fish Landing Sites; Several Charged Over Catch Registration Fraud

Norway's National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim) announced on October 30 that it had carried out raids at multiple fish purchasing sites in the country and charged several individuals with intentional, systematic false registration of catches.

Økokrim Senior National Prosecutor Elisabeth Harbo-Lervik said in a press release that the agency had for some time been receiving information and reports about inaccurate registration of catches received at the relevant fish receiving facilities. She said that after receiving such information, the police are obliged to investigate whether criminal offenses have been committed.

According to Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), the locations searched included Myre Fiskemottak in Myre, Norway, as well as multiple sites in Nordland and Møre og Romsdal counties. Økokrim said the case is broad in scope, and the searches were carried out with the assistance of the Norwegian Coast Guard, the Norwegian Maritime Authority and the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries.

Karianne Moen of the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries said the directorate assisted the police with fisheries expertise and has an established cooperation mechanism with Økokrim to prevent and expose criminal activity in the fisheries industry.

Økokrim said the investigation is still at an early stage and that it is too early to provide further details of the investigation's findings.

Harbo-Lervik said fisheries crime affects both societal resources and law-abiding operators, and that the police therefore take suspicions of such crime seriously.