Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Helga Pedersen of Norway

Pedersen is the first politician of Sámi descent to have been member of any country's government, and also the first member of any ethnic minority hold a place in the Norwegian government.
ILLEGAL fishing is the greatest challenge facing the seafood industry, Norway’s Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Helga Pedersen has said.
Speaking at a seminar in London last week, Ms Pedersen said the Norwegian Government has made the fight against illegal fishing its highest priority.
Ms Pedersen said a very central contribution to joint work to curb IUU fishing has been the work of the High Seas Task Force.
FISHERMEN and others in coastal communities will experience a tough time in 2007 Norwegian Fisheries Minister Helga Pedersen has said.
NORWEGIAN fisheries and coastal minister Helga Pedersen has said the country's salmon industry must stand firm if the EU minimum import price issue goes to the WTO (World Trade Organisation.
Speaking at the 'Salmondays' meeting held at Hell this week, Ms Pedersen said it is likely that the Norwegian government will take the issue to the WTO.
Ms Pedersen said the process of taking the dispute to the WTO may be long and drawn out, and could take longer than 18 months to conclude.
Ms Pedersen said that the amount of publicity Norwegian salmon has had recently shows how important the industry is for the Norwegian economy and employment along the coast.
minister Helga Pedersen has taken the word about the case for the first time.
Minister Pedersen said the objective of the agreement is to minimize, through effective regulation, eradicate discards, including the consideration of a discard ban before 2012 as an element of the revision of the EU Common Fishery Policy.
Ms Helga Pedersen said in a statement that she was happy that Sweden wants to work together with Norway to end illegal fishing and that it is important that we get EU member countries to work together in this action.
This week Norways Fisheries and Coastal minister Helga Pedersen is to meet her Spanish and Portugese colleagues to discuss the same issues.
Oslo - The Norwegian government plans to further investigate and possibly salvage the wreck of a Russian cruiser that sank off northern Norway amid fears it is leaking toxic waste into the sea, Norwegian Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Helga Pedersen said Wednesday.
Pedersen said in a statement that Oslo took "serious consideration" to concerns aired by locals in the area and promised to investigate if the 211-metre-long cruiser posed a threat to the environment.
We have now requested the Russians to confirm whether they actually mean it, Minister Pedersen says to NRK.
But Ms Pedersen is not sure if she wants to accept the role of broker.
But Ms Pedersen is very clear on one point the biggest challenge to seafood stocks is overfishing rather than the oil industry.
Some would argue that doing the work could be interpreted as leaving the door ajar for opening these sea areas, but Ms Pedersen denies this.
Ms Pedersen is familiar with Norways coastal population, and hails from it herself.
Asked what she would do if forced to choose between oil and fish, Ms Pedersen says that she does not believe this to be a case of either/or.
Minister of fisheries Helga Pedersen is opening Finnmarksløpet 2006.
Helga Pedersen says it is very important that the Prosecution Office deliver a verdict against the shipping company executives.
Pedersen has said Norway, the biggest producer of Atlantic salmon, would keep trying to persuade Russia that the fish was safe to eat and complied with European Union safety standards.
Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Helga Pedersen says the higher minke whale hunt quota announced for 2006 was set in response to a unanimous vote of the Norwegian Parliament that requested the government to increase the quota.
Helga Pedersen is Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs.