A dispute between the EU and Norway over snow crabs in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic is being seen as a proxy fight for an even more valuable prize: oil.

In an unusually dramatic series of clashes above the Arctic Circle, Norway seized one EU vessel this year and expelled several others from its waters, insisting that the European Commission has no right to issue fishing licenses off the remote Svalbard islands governed by Oslo.

While Brussels and Oslo insist that their disagreement hinges exclusively on the right to harvest the large, lucrative crustaceans — which can fetch up to €4.50 per kilo according to the Norges Råfisklag — many experts argue that the two parties are all too aware of far deeper geostrategic implications as major world powers scramble for control of Arctic resources.

The big concern for Norway is that the shellfish sets a legal precedent. If outsiders can come in and scoop up the crab, that also wins them the right to hunt for oil, gas and other minerals.

Part of the reason for the legal concern is that crab stocks are classified differently from fish. Because they live a sedentary life on the seafloor, they are seen as a resource belonging to the continental shelf. If the EU or other countries stake a successful legal claim to the crab, then it would be harder to challenge their entitlement to mineral resources.

“The snow crab is a test. What happens now decides what will happen in every other issue,” said Rachel Tiller, a scientist at the SINTEF Ocean group, a research institute headquartered in the Norwegian port of Trondheim.

The U.S. government estimates that the Arctic holds 22 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas deposits. Statoil already has 130 wells in the Barents Sea surrounding Svalbard. The Norwegian company will begin exploring for five other licenses to the southeast of the islands this summer. This is a new form of gold rush for Svalbard, which has historically been a center for coal mining and whaling.

Experts say this potential for untapped energy resources could make the snow crabs a smokescreen in a quest for black gold.

"This [snow crab] resource became a reason to underscore that the continental shelf is Norwegian," said Willy Østreng, professor of Polar Research at the Norwegian Academy of Sciences. "There has been an interest in oil and gas resources since the 1970s."

A treaty dispute

The crux of the disagreement hinges on interpretations of the Svalbard Treaty. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Netherlands, Italy, France and the United States signed an accord in 1920 that granted Norway sovereignty over the archipelago but preserved each signatory's right to unfettered access.

Oslo says the text recognizes its sovereignty over the continental shelf surrounding Svalbard, including its resources: snow crab, oil, minerals and gas.

“As a sedentary resource harvested on the continental shelf, it’s possible that the way Norway treats this issue could set a precedent if they find oil, gas, minerals and genetic resources on the continental shelf. If Norway opens it up for extraction, that would imply that all signatory states would need to be treated like Norwegian citizens," said Harald Sakarias Brøvig Hansen, a doctoral research fellow in marine law and fisheries at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute.

Oslo flatly rejects any suggestion that the crab could open a door to an oil rush.

"The shelf area where snow crab harvesting occurs is not opened for petroleum activities and there are no plans for such opening," a government spokesperson said.

Crab smokescreen

Brussels only recently made a major U-turn to refute Norway's sovereignty over the seabed and its resources. Lowri Evans, the former director general of maritime affairs and fisheries at the European Commission, sent a letter in 2015 requesting EU countries to stop issuing licenses for snow crab.

But at the end of 2016, the Commission decided to issue licenses to 16 vessels from Latvia, Lithuania and Spain permitting them to harvest snow crab. A spokesperson for the Norwegian government said Oslo was "very surprised" by the move. "Self-licensing by others violates international law," the spokesperson said.

The Commission didn't immediately respond on the reason for its decision.

Norwegian authorities detained one of the licensed crabbers, the Senator, from Latvia, on January 16, 2017, for setting 2,600 snow crab traps. The Norwegian Supreme Court had convicted the Senator of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing over two decades earlier, meaning it was blacklisted in Norwegian waters.

The EU remains adamant about its right to issue licenses for Svalbard as a signatory to the Svalbard Treaty.

“The EU and Norway hold divergent views on the interpretation of relevant international treaties in respect of fishing in the waters around Svalbard," European Commissioner for Fisheries Karmenu Vella said.

Despite politicians downplaying the idea that the dispute is about more than crab, Brøvig Hansen said the conflict would make other areas of cooperation between the EU and Norway more difficult, especially since climate change is altering the Arctic landscape and opening up access to resources that were previously covered by ice.

As environmental change creates a growing number of management challenges, "we can see snow crab as an example of what we'll see more in future," Brøvig Hansen said.