You have to get up early if you want to go fishing with Ib Poulsen, because the alarm clock rings at three o'clock at the former member of parliament's home outside Thisted. He is still active for the Danish People's Party in Thisted city council, where he sits on the municipality's finance committee, among other things.
The 58-year-old politician has plenty of time for both city council work and fishing, which takes place from April to October every year. In 2021, he was fired from his civil servant position at Hanstholm Port with full pay until September 2024, which DOI.dk has previously written about. That's why he can get up early all summer long and drive to Stenbjerg Landingsplads to fish.
Eight hours after the alarm clock rang, I meet the politician, just as he comes in with his boat full of fish and shellfish. There's no time for a break, because there are nets that need to be emptied. It is no coincidence that Ib Poulsen fishes from here.
- I was born up here in Stenbjerg town, and I fish here because I want to keep this environment alive, he says, while deftly emptying his net of crab claws and fish.
Stenbjerg Landingplads is full of life and fishing from small boats, while a few tourists have already found their way here. This should otherwise be the last quiet week before the season explodes.
The dismissal from the civil service position
We have agreed to meet to talk about reactions to the article about Ib Poulsen's dismissal. The article has given rise to a number of comments on social media, and paradoxically, it has come from fishermen.
- I think that the fishermen confirm with their comments that it was a political dismissal, Ib Poulsen says about the comments.
Among other things, it says that Ib Poulsen himself probably doesn't want to return to the harbor, after the stunt he did with Simon Kollerup (S).
It also says that various users of the harbor do not want the politician's presence at the harbor, and at the more crude end, that a chicken that shits in the chicken coop must either die or disappear.
Ib Poulsen remembers well the fisheries agreement that he made with the Social Democrat Simon Kollerup, when both were fisheries spokespersons before he became Minister of Industry in the previous government.
- That was the fisheries agreement that we made in relation to how many quotas each fisherman can own. Henning Kjeldsen, for example, was a bit affected by that. But he still has a good business, says Ib Poulsen.
He also has an idea of how the fishermen should have ensured that Ib Poulsen was fired instead of returning to the port to his position as a harbor officer.
- The fishermen are powerful, if they say: We move to another port, then the Port of Hanstholm will miss out on a million in revenue, explains Ib Poulsen, who is well aware that he has no evidence for this.
But there is still the possibility of taking a case for a while yet.
- The Christian Trade Union says it is possible to take a case up to five years after the firing, if new information comes to light, says Ib Poulsen.
Wanted to overthrow Lars Løkke's government
But this is not the first time that Ib Poulsen has sought to limit the power of the big fishermen.
Since Ib Poulsen sat in the Folketing the last time until 2017, the Prime Minister was Lars Løkke. At that time, the then left-wing politician's closeness to the big fishermen with gifts such as free summer house stays and cod parties in West Jutland was not at all something that Ib Poulsen seemed to care about.
At Christianborg, Ib Poulsen's principledness is still remembered, as DOI.dk has learned.
- Yes, it's true, I would have overthrown Lars Løkke because of his close relationship with the big fishermen or at least given him a strong nose, says Ib Poulsen and adds:
- I was also ready to overthrow him when he signed the Marrakesh Agreement on the distribution of refugees.
But at that time he had to bow to party discipline.
- There was too much Christiansborg involved at that time, even if we had to have made an election then, everything might look different today. It still bothers me that we didn't overthrow the government then, says Ib Poulsen, before returning to a consultation with Lars Løkke about the relationship with the big fishermen.
- I had Løkke in consultation, but I wasn't allowed to go to him about his close relationship with the fishermen in Thyborøn. He knew full well that I couldn't go to him, says Ib Poulsen.
While Ib Poulsen was telling the story, a shower had passed over the beach, and other fishermen had come by for a chat with the tourists who were just about to see what the day's catch was.
But it's not for sale now, because Ib Poulsen is driving to the fish auction in Hanstholm with the catch. The net is barely half empty as our conversation is coming to an end, but for the politician the day does not end after the fish auction.
- I have to go to a meeting in the finance committee and then another meeting about the school structure, he says about a political hot potato in Thisted Municipality right now.
But there is one thing that is important to him regarding fishing.
- I am upset that it is always going to affect fishing. There must be room for both small and large fishermen, concludes Ib Poulsen, who suspects that the cormorant bird, along with the seals, eats what the fishermen could have caught.
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