Skilyrði fyrir fjárhagsaðstoð. Réttaröryggi við framkvæmd fjárhagsaðstoðar

Megin markmið þessarar rannsóknar er að varpa ljósi á réttaröryggi umsækjenda fjárhagsaðstoðar. Svokölluðum hefðbundnum rannsóknaraðferðum (e. desk based traditional dissertion) er beitt, þar sem eingöngu verður unnið með heimildir og niðurstöður rannsókna sem þegar eru til reiðu. Niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar leiddu í ljós að löggjafinn hefur í félagsþjónustulögum ekki tekið nægilega skýra afstöðu til þess hvert inntak fjárhagsaðstoðar eigi að vera og hversu sveitarfélögin mega ganga langt við að setja skilyrði fyrir fjárhagsaðstoð og hverjar afleiðingarnar eigi að vera sé þeim skilyrðum er ekki mætt. Flest sveitarfélög hafa heimild í reglum sínum um fjárhagsaðstoð til að beita stjórnsýsluviðurlögum ef umsækjandi hafnar atvinnutilboði eða þátttöku í virkniúrræðum. Í félagsþjónustulögum er ekki að finna heimild til beitingu slíkra viðurlaga, en 69. gr. stjórnarskrárinnar gerir ríkar kröfur til skýrleika slíkra lagaheimilda. Mikill misbrestur er á að sveitarfélög birti reglur um fjárhagsaðstoð í B-deild Stjórnartíðinda, en sveitarfélögum er óheimilt að taka ákvörðun um synjun eða skerðingu fjárhagsaðstoðar á grundvelli óbirtra reglna, með tilliti til réttmætra væntinga umsækjenda. Leiddi rannsóknin í ljós að aðgengi umsækjenda fjárhagsaðstoðar að dómstólum sé of skert í ljósi félagslegra og heilsufarslegra aðstæðna þjóðfélagshópsins og þeirra formkrafna sem gerðar eru til umsækjenda gjafsókna

Cross-ownership in the Icelandic seafood industry and the potential effects on UK supply: A Matis report for Seafish and the Grimsby Seafood Cluster

<p>This report is commissioned by Seafish and the Grimsby seafood cluster in the UK with the aim to get and overall understanding of connections and dependencies in ownership of the largest seafood companies in Iceland, and how these can potentially affect supply to the UK.</p> <p>Quota consolidation has been a feature of Iceland‘s fisheries sector since 1991, when the government introduced individual transferable quotas (ITQs) across all species. This allowed some companies to buy up quotas from others, and catch them in a way which, in theory, ought to be more efficient. The concept is that overall economic return from the resource will be maximised by allowing for such optimisation. Now, almost three decades later, the economy of scale has resulted in extreme consolidation across the seafood sector, where smaller companies have merged into larger ones or been bought up by the big vertically integrated seafood companies.</p> <p>The catching and processing sectors have been going through major development phase in recent years, as vessels and processing technologies have advanced and become much more efficient. This however comes with a price tag that only the larger companies can afford, which in return has escalated consolidation. As example, in 1991 the ten largest companies owned 24% of the overall quota in cod-equivalent but have now possession of 52% of the quota; and the twenty largest companies own 72%.</p> <p>In order to maintain diversity in the industry and to avoid ending up with only a handful of companies possessing the entire quota, the government placed a cap (quota ceiling) on how much individual companies are allowed to own of the quota. For the main ITQ system this cap is 12% in cod-equivalent and for the coastal fleet (vessels below 15 meters) the quota ceiling is at 5%. However, at present, if a company holds a stake of less than 50% in another firm, that latter firm’s quota holdings do not count towards the quota ceiling. As results, many of the larger companies have now cross-ownership that are not very transparent. Clusters of connected companies have therefore emerged, which are dependent on each other. </p> <p>In the spring of 2019, the government formed a committee that was to review and suggest on how “connected companies” should be defined with regard to the quota ceiling. The committee returned its suggestions in end of 2019. The main results were that majority ownership should still be needed to count quotas against the ceiling. Increased transparency is however suggested, obligating companies that possess more than 6% of the quota (2.5% of the coastal fleet quota) to disclose cross-ownership with the Directorate of fisheries. </p> <p>This report gives a brief overview of cross-ownership and dependencies between the largest seafood companies in Iceland and concludes how these may affect supply to the UK, particularly in regard to supplies of fresh whole fish. The report also provides information on major investments that have occurred in the last few years that are likely to effect supply of fresh whole fish to UK.</p>Funding: SEAFISH (SEA 8451

Stefnumótun og samhæft árangursmat Menntaskólans á Ísafirði

Verkefnið er opið nemendum og starfsfólki Háskólans á AkureyriGetur aðferðafræði Samhæfðs árangursmats bætt árangur framhaldsskóla og hjálpað til að fylgjast með hvort settum markmiðum er náð? Skýrsluhöfundar spurðu sig að því „hvernig falla aðferðir Samhæfðs árangursmats að mótun stefnu fyrir Menntaskólann á Ísafirði?“ Farið var út í stefnumótunarvinnu með teymi sem í voru aðilar frá breiðum hópi hagsmunaaðila. Við uppsetningu var notast við fyrirmynd frá Paul R. Niven og bók hans, Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies. Eitt af einkennum Samhæfðs árangursmats er notkun á huglægum mælikvörðum, svo sem viðhorfi nemenda eða starfsmanna. Ráðist var í viðhorfskönnun meðal kennara, nemenda og foreldra til að nota við mælingar á markmiðum. Einnig voru takmörk ákveðin fyrir mælingar, sem vonandi verða framkvæmdar í framtíðinni og notaðar sem vegsteinar á vegferð til framtíðarsýnar. Eðli málsins samkvæmt mun endanlegur árangur af þessari vinnu ekki liggja fyrir fyrr en næsta vetur þegar niðurstaða allra mælinga liggur fyrir og ljóst hvort takmörkum hefur verið náð. Aðkoma breiðs hóps fólks að stefnumótunarvinnunni og sú faglega skoðun sem fylgir svona vinnu mun skila sér í árangri. Það verður hinsvegar í höndum stjórnenda skólans hversu mikill árangurinn verður. Til að ná þeim árangri sem samhæft árangurmat getur gefið, þarf skuldbindingu þeirra og áframhaldandi aðkomu starfsmanna að vinnunni. Vinnu sem aldrei lýkur og þarf sífellt að vera í endurskoðun. Lykilorð: Stefnumótun, hlutverk, framtíðarsýn, Samhæft árangursmat

West Nordic Fisheries : Utilization of rest raw material

Marine bio resources, especially fish, are the most important resources and of common interest to the West Nordic countries. The overall aim of this project was to give an overview over the extent and availability of biological RRMs from marine resources in the West Nordic countries Iceland, Greenland and Faroe Islands, discuss promising innovation projects and list suggested actions for their implementation in the regions. The focus should be on increasing the value of main and side products, utilising multiple value streams, reducing waste and minimizing negative environmental impact. The project was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and initiated and steered by the Nordic Small Communities Working Group under the Nordic SCP Working group (HKP). It was conducted by Matis, Iceland

Nordic and North European Flatfish Value Chains

This report provides an overview of the Nordic flatfish sector; especially focusing on the significance of Nordic supplies within the North-European flatfish value chains, stock status, catches, values, processing, trade, and markets. The hope is that the overview can provide Nordic stakeholders with better understanding on the flatfish value chains and potentially facilitate increased cooperation, with the aim to increase value of these resources for the Nordic seafood sector.  The conclusion of the report is that due to the limited share of the Nordic countries in total European and global supply of flatfish, the extremely strong position of the Dutch industry within the value chains, and seemingly modest profit margins throughout these value chains; it is difficult so see how increased Nordic cooperation could contribute to further value creation for the Nordic seafood sector

"Fisk og folk" Fiskeripolitikkens betydning for sysselsetting og bosetting i fiskeriavhengige samfunn i Norge, Island og Færøyene

The overall aim of this project is to facilitate research on the influence of fisheries policy on employment and settlement in fisheries dependent societies in Norway, Iceland and the Faroese Islands. By combining fisheries data and population data at the municipal level in Norway, we have shown that it is possible to study whether and how strongly the development in fisheries impacts relative population growth. We find that it is the general trends of urbanization and centralization, more than the development in the fisheries industry, that influence the development. The project has also identified data sets for Iceland and the Faroe Islands which makes it possible to carry out similar multivariate regression analyses. This will make it possible to compare results between countries.Det overordnede målet med dette prosjektet er å legge til rette for forskning på i hvilken grad fiskeripolitikk påvirker sysselsetting og bosetting i fiskeriavhengige samfunn i Norge, Island og Færøyene. Gjennom å kombinere fiskeridata og befolkningsdata på kommunenivå i Norge, har vi vist at det er mulig å studere om og hvor sterkt utviklingen i fiskeriene påvirker relativ folketallsutvikling. Vi finner at det er de generelle sentraliserings-trendene, mer enn utviklingen i fiskerinæringen, som påvirker utviklingen. Vi viser også at det finnes tilgjengelig tilsvarende datasett for Island og Færøyene som gjør at det også er mulig å gjennomføre tilsvarende analyser for å sammenligne resultater landene imellom.publishedVersio

"Fish and folk" Fisheries policies´ influence on employment and settlement in fisheries dependent societies in The Faroese Islands, Iceland and Norway

The overall aim of this project is to facilitate research on the influence of fisheries policy on employment and settlement in fisheries dependent societies in Norway, Iceland and the Faroese Islands. By combining fisheries data and population data at the municipal level in Norway, we have shown that it is possible to study whether and how strongly the development in fisheries impacts relative population growth. We find that it is the general trends of urbanization and centralization, more than the development in the fisheries industry, that influence the development. The project has also identified data sets for Iceland and the Faroe Islands which makes it possible to carry out similar multivariate regression analyses. This will make it possible to compare results between countries

Blue Bioeconomy in the Arctic region

Source at https://sdwg.org/what-we-do/projects/blue-bioeconomy-in-the-arctic-region/?it=blue-bioeconomy-in-the-arctic-region/The blue bioeconomy is important to many Arctic communities, providing food and other valuable bioresources, generating value and employment, and supporting rural regions. This report looks at the Arctic blue bioeconomy by analyzing regional challenges, opportunities, best practices and success stories from Iceland, Norway and Northern Canada. In addition, information on the status of the blue bioeconomy in Alaska, USA, the perspective of Inuit people on the blue bioeconomy and markets for marine ingredients are described. This work was endorsed by the Arctic Council´s Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG)